Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints James and Dominic

By 1389 Taddeo di Bartolo was already enrolled in the guild of painters in Siena, and this Madonna belongs to those first years of his career, which the museum dates simply to the late 14th century. The Virgin sits enthroned with the Child between two saints. On one side stands James the Greater, the apostle whose tomb at Santiago de Compostela drew pilgrims from all over Europe, with his pilgrim's staff. On the other is Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, with the lily and the book that identify him. The surface has a history of its own. A restoration in 1977 left the missing areas visible as plain neutral patches. In 2007 and 2008 the restorer Pinin Brambilla Barcilon went back to them and reconstructed the colour of the losses with watercolour and transparent glazes, above all across the Virgin's mantle.