On 9 June 1311, the people of Siena witnessed the most extraordinary sight they had ever beheld. Word had got out that something miraculous had been created in the workshop of the painter Duccio di Buoninsegna on the Via Stalloreggi, a narrow, dipping street on the hill crowned by the Duomo, and crowds had gathered. When the doors opened what emerged was an unparalleled object – not so much a painting as a huge, golden construction embedded with countless jewel-like images; a thing so otherworldly and unexpected that it was simultaneously a work of art the like of which had never been seen before and a religious artefact imbued with divine powers.
An eyewitness recorded that the city came to a halt:
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