Dietisalvi di Speme was one of Siena’s first Masters.

The Madonna pointing to the Infant Jesus with her right hand follows the Byzantine model of the Virgin Hodegetria, who guides our view and designates Christ with her right hand. She gazes towards us, inviting us to contemplate Jesus and thus embark on a dialogue with God. The sacred figures are portrayed in an idealised manner, their faces devoid of expression, and suggest a divine world quite different from the terrestrial world.

The artist places the Virgin on a throne richly adorned with gold and inclusions that have since disappeared. The gold background, the stiffness of the attitudes, the Child clad in a toga and bearing a scroll that symbolises his divine message, and the simplistic representation of the facial features are a direct legacy of the Greek world.

However, the work departs from the established canon by abandoning the inscriptions specifying the names of the characters and the stars placed on the mantle of the Virgin signifying her virginity before, during and after her pregnancy. The natural way in which the garments fall heralds a new need for realism.

The theme of the Madonna and Child and of various scenes from Marian life became especially prominent in the city of Siena, which had been dedicated to Mary since its victory in the Battle of Montaperti in 1260 against the rival city of Florence.