BRUSSELS.- BOZAR pays tribute to Siena with over sixty exceptionally refined masterpieces from the collection of the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, supplemented with loans from French museums. The public can see about sixty unique works, dating from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, which are being exhibited in the capital of Europe for the first time. The thematic arrangement of the works gives visitors the opportunity to discover masterpieces from the heyday of the European Gothic Age.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Siena was one of the leading artistic, financial and intellectual centres of Europe. The Sienese artists and their workshops enjoyed an excellent reputation and were renowned for their unparalleled craftsmanship and refined painting style. They received commissions from some of the most prominent and richest clients in Europe. Popes, emperors, rich merchants and public institutions readily purchased the works of these talented artists.

“Ars narrandi”, the art of storytelling
A new style developed under the impetus of painters such as Duccio, Simone Martini, the Lorenzetti brothers, Sassetta and Giovanni Di Paolo. The Sienese masters gradually broke free from the shackles of the Byzantine tradition with its idealised, divine and static figures, developing a more narrative visual language instead. The Sienese painters “narrated” well-known Biblical stories in a lively and recognisable manner. Their figures looked more human, openly showed their feelings and wore contemporary clothes. This way, the faithful could better identify with these pious examples. The didactical role of these paintings should not be underestimated at a time when the majority of the population was illiterate.

Siena, a European crossroads
Siena’s location along the Via Francigena, the pilgrim’s route which runs from the north of Europe to Rome, past the southern Italian ports to the Holy Land, turned the city into an important centre of trade, promoting artistic exchanges. The paintings, often small diptychs that were easy to transport, portable altarpieces and miniatures, were distributed via this route. They fascinated the other centres in Europe, and ultimately left their mark on art throughout the rest of Europe.