Disputation with the Doctors
1308-11
Tempera on wood, 42,5 x 43 cm
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena

by  Duccio di Buoninsegna (b. ca. 1255, Siena, d. 1319, Siena)

The last compartment of the front predella is devoted to the Disputation with the Doctors, recounted both in the gospel according to Luke and in the apocryphal writings of Matthew and the Infancy of Christ. The interior of the temple, dominated by a gaily coloured floor (described by Brandi as a "Caucasian carpet"), includes sophisticated details such as the four Cupids enclosed in little niches and the capitals of the slender pillars silhouetted against the gold background.