Description
Duccio painted the Virgin and Child with Saints Dominic and Aurea as a small folding altarpiece around 1312–1315. Mary and the Christ Child occupy the centre, accompanied by four angels. Saint Dominic and Saint Aurea stand on the hinged wings, while seven Old Testament figures appear in the pointed gable above.
Now in London's National Gallery, the work preserves much of its medieval structure. It may have been commissioned by the Dominican cardinal Niccolò da Prato, bishop of Ostia, whose patron saint was Aurea. The proposal is supported by the imagery and documentary context, but no surviving commission proves it. The alternation between the open and closed triptych offered worshippers an experience that no static image can fully recreate. When the shutters concealed Mary and the Child, the gable bearing David and the prophets remained visible and announced what would be revealed.






