Focus on this artwork and discuss the Description.
The painting displays Byzantine iconography much like the Hodegetria archetype (in Greek, the name means "pointing the way"), because the Virgin is indicating toward the Baby Jesus. In this style, the Madonna symbolizes the Christian church and  Jesus life, truth, and the proper way. The Madonna is depicted in three-quarters profile, while Jesus looks straight ahead.
The throne is depicted from an innovative frontal view, with a large gap at the center and seen in perspective, which gives it a sense of three dimensions unusual for the time. (The preceding Maestás of Cimabue depicted more angular thrones.) The throne assumes a new sense of might, as an architectural mass embellished with carvings and marquetry. This central perspective, used by the mature Cimabue, was taken up again by Giotto, Duccio, and other artists of the 14th century. 
In a striking composition, the throne creates a stage with the wide opening in its base through which four prophets are depicted in half bust view. They are recognizable by their cartouchesm which contain verses from the Old Testament that refer to Marie and the Incarnation of Jesus. The verses certify their prophecies and evoke the descent of Jesus from their lineage. The first, with the text "Creavit Dominus Novum super terram foemina circundavit viro" is Jeremiah, followed by Abraham toward the center ("In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes") and David ("De fructu ventris tuo ponam super sedem tuam"), and finally Isaiah at right ("Ecce virgo concipet et pariet"). The gold behind the prophets, instead of flattening the painting, seems to accentuate the feeling of emptiness, which makes the prophets seem to stare out of windows or caves rather than that they are pressed against a wall. Composed and solemn, Abraham and David in the center below the throne recall that Jesus descended from their lineage. The Christian meaning of the work, well-fitted to a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is thus focused on the threefold nature of the Virgin who is surrounded by the Holy Spirit. Below, at the sides of the throne, Jeremiah and Isaiah gaze up towards the child as if to confirm the prophecies written in their documents on the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus. With their gaze, they create a triangle whose vertex is the throne of Marie. 
The arrangement of the four prophets has a precise doctrinal explanation: the patriarchs toward the center represent that human rational capacity, that inquires in the mystery of the Incarnation. Meanwhile, the prophets on the sides have dissolved their doubts through contemplation and are in a state of mystical rapture. 
The heads of the angels are alternately inclined inwards or outwards, avoiding a completely profile representation, which was then reserved only for secondary or negative figures. (Giotto also broke that principle.) The angels closely resemble those in the Maestà of Cimabue in the frescoes of the Basilica inferiore di San Francesco d'Assisi. Their bodies are solid, modulated by a delicate chiarascuro that is delicately sfumato (a novel technique of Cimabue's) and the fluidity of their clothes. The red and blue colors of their clothes indicate their substance, according to Renaissance thought: a fusion of fire and air. The angels above turn their heads and sink into the third dimension.
Basilica inferiore di San Francesco d'Assisi Jeremiah Cimabue Byzantine iconography Isaiah Maestà Duccio Incarnation of Jesus Abraham Trinity Holy Trinity Hodegetria David Giotto sfumato Old Testament