Western Art: 1348 to 1360

Taddeo Gaddi, the son of Gaddo di Zanobi, called Gaddo Gaddi, had been a member of Giotto's workshop from 1313 to 1337, when his master died.

His principal work is the cycle of Stories of the Virgin in the Baroncelli Chapel of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence (1328–1338).

Later he perhaps paints the cabinet tiles in the sacristy of the same church, now divided among the Galleria dell'Accademia of Florence and museums in Munich and Berlin.

These works show his mastership of Giotto's new style, to which he has added a personal experimentation in the architectural backgrounds, such as in the staircase of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Baroncelli Chapel.

A second massive addition of the main body of the Siena cathedral, planned in 1339. would have more than doubled the size of the structure by means of an entirely new nave and two aisles ranged perpendicular to the existing nave and centered on the high altar.

The construction was begun under the direction of Giovanni di Agostino, better known as a sculptor.

Construction is halted by the Black Death in 1348.

Basic errors in the construction are already evident by this time, however, and the work will never resume.

The outer walls, remains of this extension, can now be seen to the south of the Duomo.

The floor of the uncompleted nave now serves as a parking lot and museum, and, though unfinished, the remains are testament to Sienese power, ambition, and artistic achievement.

Siena is devastated by the Black Death of 1348, which ends the Sienese school of painting.

The city also suffers from ill-fated financial enterprises.

Taddeo Gaddi’s altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with saints, executed in 1353 for the Cathedral of Pistoia, displays the complex figural detail characteristic of his mature work.

According to Giorgio Vasari, Gaddi was considered Giotto's most talented pupil: in 1347 he was placed at the top in a list of Florence's most renowned painters.

Paolo and Giovanni Veneziano sign and date their Veneto-Byzantine Coronation of the Virgin in 1358.