Duccio's ability to weave groups of figures into compelling pictorial narratives was unprecedented in Western painting. Here, below the cross, mourners including the swooning Virgin coalesce in shared grief. On the other side, the violent gesticulations of soldiers and onlookers explode outwards in confusion and disarray. Duccio certainly painted the elegant and beautifully articulated saints on the wings of the altarpiece as well as the blessing Christ and angels in the pinnacle. An assistant probably executed most of the central panel based on prototypes by Duccio. This remarkably well-preserved triptych was an object of private devotion, beautiful even when closed: the backs of the wings are painted in imitation of marble and semiprecious stones.