documented 1317 -1327 · Siena, Florence and large altarpiece of Santa Croce

Clear narration, luminous gold and sensitive gestures give Ugolino di Nerio an essential place after Duccio.

Ugolino di Nerio was documented between 1317 and 1327 and died perhaps around 1329. A Sienese painter deeply influenced by Duccio, he took up the fluidity of his line, his gold backgrounds and his precious harmonies while developing a more contrasting color and a often more direct narration. The documents mention him in Siena, but several of his major commissions are Florentine. For Santa Maria Novella, church of the Dominicans, but several of his major commissions are Florentine. For Santa Maria Novella, church of the Dominicans, then for Santa Croce, church of the Franciscans, he designed large ensembles with several registers intended to organize doctrine, devotion and story. The altarpiece of Santa Croce included a central image, saints, prophets and a long one predella dedicated to the Passion. The Last Supper orders the apostles around a table which makes the community and the announced betrayal visible. In the Way of Calvary, the central cross, the pink dress of Christ and the blue of the Virgin structure the crowd. The Betrayal, the Deposition and the Resurrection continue the story through measured gestures and distinct colors. Dismembered over the centuries, the polyptych remains today in fragments in several collections. Virgins and Children and isolated figures show at the same time the delicacy of his devotional art. Ugolino thus circulates the Sienese tradition in the monumental environment of Florence. The selection "Ugolino di Nerio" notably compares The Last Supper and The Path to Calvary. His reading favors the material.

In each panel, Ugolino holds the precious and the readable together: gold elevates, color tells.