This iconic image of the Madonna and Child, seen throughout the history of western art, holds significant value in terms of stylistic innovations of religious subject matter that would continue to evolve for centuries.

[1] Comparing the compact size of this work of 11×81⁄8 inches to larger, more illustrious altarpieces and large scale frescoes, the Madonna and Child is understood to be an intimate, devotional image.

Duccio followed other innovative Italian artists of the time like Giotto, both of whom strove to move beyond the purely iconic Byzantine and Italo-Byzantine canon and attempted to create a more tangible connection between the viewer and the objects in the painting.

Stoclet was understood to treat his fruitful collection of art with the most careful attention and held them in the most ideal environments to preserve their unique, and many times fragile, qualities.

[2] Due to the fact that some qualities of the painting are Bysantinesque like the oval shape of the Virgin's face and her elegantly long nose, and also of the “miniature man” nature of Christ Child,[5] the lack of consensus of when it was created proceeds.

Along with the humanistic qualities between the Virgin and Christ Child, and the elegant draping, the marble parapet is a notable detail to the intentions of the painting, and serves as a visual invitation that encourages the viewer to engage more emotionally to the image.

The late James Beck, Professor of Art History at Columbia University in New York, believed that Duccio's Madonna and Child, which the Met dates to 1300, is the work of a 19th-century artist or forger based on stylistic grounds.

Professor Beck said: "We are asked to believe that the modest little picture represents a leap into the future of Western painting by establishing a plane in front of Mary and the Child.