Madonna del Bordone

In September 1260, Ghibelline Siena crushed the Florentine army at Montaperti, and among the prisoners was a Florentine painter, Coppo di Marcovaldo. One account says he bought his freedom by agreeing to paint for the city that had just beaten his own. The next year, 1261, he signed and dated this towering panel for the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Siena — the Virgin enthroned like a queen, the Christ Child on her lap, two angels leaning in above. The gold ground and the solemn Byzantine poses were the shared language of the moment, yet the Virgin's face already turns and softens in a way that feels observed rather than copied. Of all the paintings linked to Coppo, this is the only one that still carries his signature.