Defending Duccio
Published: November 13, 2004
More than a few eyebrows went up when the Metropolitan Museum of Art confirmed this week that it had bought a painting by an early Renaissance master, and the price was reported to exceed $45 million. The price is interesting, and so is the painter - Duccio di Buoninsegna, who is not widely known - and the painting's size, about the same as a sheet of typing paper. Perhaps no one would have thought twice if it had been a Leonardo da Vinci the size of an unfolded newspaper. But art is not just a matter of big names and dollars per square inch.
As always, a record art purchase sends some people into throes of comparative anxiety. Think of the possible uses of that $45 million, all the good it could do. But it has already done good. A painting that has been seen by only a few people in its 700 years of existence will be on display for everyone. These days, $45 million may not even buy much of a star's multiyear baseball contract, and this Duccio will draw visitors long after Derek Jeter retires.
The Met clearly feels a need to justify this acquisition, both because it fills a critical gap in its collection and on aesthetic grounds. Yet the most basic justification for a purchase like this nearly always goes unstated. The Met's essential job is to preserve art of the past for the future. For the experts, a purchase like this may not redefine the history of painting, but it will bring a new understanding of the period, and of art itself, to visitors who have never seen it before. That means almost everyone.
For those who understand no explanation is needed, ...For those who don't none will.
