Cimabue's Madonna Enthroned

¶ … structure of Cimabue's Madonna. Moreover, this paper seeks to prove the following thesis: Fundamentally, the viewer can treat Cimabue's Madonna as a representation of the hierarchy of divinity over humanity. The image is structured in many respects in a highly traditional format. The Madonna and child occupy center stage of the image's structure. Their centrality is a common thematic element in nearly every single image of the Madonna and child that has ever been created. In this sense, Cimabue's Madonna is somewhat derivative.

However, the centrality of the Madonna and child is yet another means of expressing their primacy in the image at large. This helps to remind the viewer that the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus are two of the most important figures from western Catholicism and Christianity which were ever created. By allowing them to occupy the most important place within the frame, Cimabue is reasserting their overall primacy.

However, Cimabue makes these two figures even more primal by placing the Madonna and child in an area of the frame where they are suspended above the earthly figures. This placement not only expresses the ethereal quality of divinity but also the primacy of divinity. Cimabue makes sure that the status of the Madonna and child is asserted not just through their centrality within the frame, but also in terms of their suspension about the figures at the bottom of the frame.

The primacy of the Madonna and child is also expressed through the fact that they are surrounded by archangels on either side of the frame. There are eight angels total and four on either side of the Madonna and child. The strong presence of the archangels helps to reassert the profound sense of importance and overall divinity that the Madonna and child have.

The archangels give the Madonna and child a more heightened sense of status: it is through their presence that the Madonna and child almost seem like a modern-day celebrity that needs to be guarded via the entourage of angels. The strong presence of angels helps to reiterate not only the value and esteem of the Madonna and child, but almost make their importance more accessible to the modern viewer. The presence of the angels gives the overall image a stronger reference point for the spectator.

Furthermore, through the details that Cimabue instills the painting with via these archangels, the average viewer is able to recognize the importance of the archangels, and thus the heightened importance of the Madonna and child. For example, the angels portrayed in the painting are all wearing what appear to be some type of headband. The presence of the headbands gives these angels a higher status themselves, which only reinforces the importance of the Madonna and child.

Furthermore, the viewer can easily infer that these angels are in fact archangels because of their wise and somewhat world-weary expressions. They appear to have seen and experienced a lot in their time. This rendering imbues them with a loftier and more elite status, and thus enhances the primacy of the Madonna and child.

One of the more notable elements that occupies space in the frame is at the very bottom there are four men, they appear to be elders within the Church; one of them might even be a king. Their placement within the frame is very noteworthy. They are at the very bottom: this is not accident in placement by Cimabue.

Rather, their placement strongly indicates that while these men might have some sort of primacy or importance on earth, their overall power and authority is forever trumped by the importance of divinity. The men at the bottom of the frame are look at some scrolls; it's unclear what the scroll contain, but the essence of this representation strongly suggests that they are wrapped up in earthly concerns, or earthly interpretations of the divine, which are forever limited.

One of the most interesting aspects of the frame is the fact that the Madonna and child occupy a position above them which is so high and.