The Italian painter Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1255-ca. 1318) was the first great master of the Sienese school. His art represented the culmination of the Italo-Byzantine style in Siena and created the foundation for Sienese Gothic art. Little is known...

Imagine this: like most other civilized people, you have more than a superficial interest in the great music of the past. For decades you have been aware of a rumor circulating among music professionals that a manuscript score for an early Mozart quartet--an...

In the autumn of 2004 the Metropolitan Museum acquired the last known work in private hands by the great Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna. Small in size--it measures only 28 x 20.8 cm, including the engaged frame--the picture shows the half-length figure of...

To make his mark in the art world in the early decades of the 20th century, dealer Joseph Duveen broke from convention. One of his first rules was to buy high and sell higher. If it was a bargain, the work probably wasn't worth owning...

Blockbuster exhibitions are defined by their scope and scale. A staggering array of objects meant to illuminate the accomplishments of an artist, culture or epoch has become the norm—at least for institutions with the clout to pull them off. Audiences are used to seeing (and...