The Raising of Lazarus

Christ restores Lazarus to life before his sisters Martha and Mary and an astonished crowd. At the right, Lazarus stands wrapped in a shroud at the entrance to a tomb cut into the rock; a witness covers his nose against the smell. This panel from the reverse predella of the Maestà in Siena combines the solemnity of a gold ground with everyday gestures and vivid dramatic storytelling.

Rather than showing the burial or the mourning that precedes the miracle, Duccio chooses the decisive instant: Christ extends his hand and commands the dead man to come out of the tomb. The calm authority of his gesture contrasts with the astonishment of the onlookers and the almost spectral stillness of Lazarus, who is still wrapped in his shroud.