Art Both Duccio Di Buoninsegna and Fra

Art

Both Duccio di Buoninsegna and Fra Filippo Lippi paint the Christian Madonna and child scene. Lippi's "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels" is rendered on wood with tempera and gold leaf. It is rounded at the top, and was the center part of a triptych that was completed in about the year 1440.[footnoteRef:1] Also in tempera and gold leaf on wood is di Buoninsegna's "Madonna and Child." Candle damage at the bottom of the wood panel suggests that the painting was "used for private devotion."[footnoteRef:2] Buoninsegna's painting was completed in the year 1300, almost one hundred and fifty years prior to Lippi's "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels." The two depictions of mother Mary and baby Jesus share similar themes, and in both the mother is holding the child. However, the composition of the two paintings is strikingly different and symbolizes their respective religious histories. [1: "Fra Filippo Lippi: Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels (49.7.9)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000 -- . http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.7.9 (August 2007)] [2: "Duccio di Buoninsegna: Madonna and Child (2004.442)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000 -- . http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2004.442 (September 2010)]

The earlier piece, di Buoninsegna's "Madonna and Child" shares much in common with Byzantine religious icons. Byzantine art "provided severe, stylized models" and was the prevailing religious artistic style in Europe during the time that di Buoninsegna painted.[footnoteRef:3] As a result, the di Buoninsegna depiction of the Virgin and child is stiff and rigid like much Byzantine iconography. Moreover, Byzantine art is characterized by the use of gold, which shows off the simplicity of the main composition. In this case, di Buoninsegna features the Virgin Mary in the center of the composition. She is holding baby Jesus in her arms. The lack of naturalism and perspective is also characteristic of Byzantine art, which predated the Renaissance art in Italy. By the time Fra Filippo Lippi painted the triptych with "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels," the Renaissance was underway in Italy and signs of Byzantine art were vanishing. [3: Paoletti, John T. And Radke, Gary M. Art in Renaissance Italy. Laurence King Publishing, 2005, p. 53]

Lippi's "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels" is a composition that is classically Renaissance. In fact, Lippi's art workshop was "one of the most active and notable in Florence during the 1440s and 1450s."[footnoteRef:4] The gold is the only formal connection with the di Buoninsegna composition. Otherwise, gone are the Byzantine stiff forms and the simple composition on the canvas. Whereas di Buoninsegna had a lot of empty space on the canvas, Lippi has none in the "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels." Renaissance art had become much more elaborate, reflecting the increased wealth and power of the Roman Catholic Church. [4: Paoletti, John T. And Radke, Gary M. Art in Renaissance Italy. Laurence King Publishing, 2005, p. 233]

The subject matter of the two paintings might be the same, but the way the artist depicts the relationship between Madonna and child is completely different. In di Buoninsegna's "Madonna and Child," the baby Jesus reaches out to touch his mother's face like an ordinary child would do. This gesture humanizes Jesus in a way that almost makes the viewer forget that he is the Son of God. Likewise, Mary looks down with love and affection at the bundle in her arms. The scene is one that is tender, and focuses on maternal love and devotion. Showing "maternal sweetness" is common in Renaissance art, especially the "Christian or virginal representation."[footnoteRef:5] On the contrary, the Madonna in Fra Filippo Lippi's "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels" is not even looking at her child. She has a distant look on her face, as she gazes off into the distance. However, the baby Jesus looks right at the viewer. Baby Jesus is too infantile to look directly at the viewer in the di Buoninsegna's "Madonna and Child." The relationship between mother and child is affectionate in de Buoninsegna's painting, but it is colder in Lippi's. [5: Tinagli, Paola. Women in Italian Renaissance Art: Gender, Representation, Identity. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997, p. 1; 6]

The underlying messages and meanings of the two paintings are different. Lippi is showing Jesus as the bearer of the Book, which is the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. The book occupies the center point of the composition. Also, the eye is drawn to the background because the left leaf of the book points to a scroll that one of the angels is holding. The scroll and the book together refer to the Catholic teachings. Lippi is not painting the maternal love between Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus, as de Buoninsegna does. Unlike Lippi, di Buoninsegna is concerned more with the ability to convey universal maternal love. The purpose of the de Buoninsegna painting of the Madonna is to portray the love that Mary has for Jesus and vice-versa. For Lippi, the purpose of the painting is more political: to discuss the supremacy of Church doctrine and to show that Jesus is the Logos (Divine Word). Madonna's love is the more important subject to di Buoninsegna, whereas Jesus is the more central subject for Lippi. Lippi accomplishes his subject matter by portraying baby Jesus as the only figure in the composition who is looking directly at the viewer.

These two paintings show the evolution of artistic composition and artistic ability. In di Buoninsegna's painting, the artist does not have a good sense of perspective. For example, the mother's hands are poorly rendered and appear too long, whereas the baby's head looks too small in proportion to its body. If the artist purposely rendered Jesus with his head too small, such as to make Jesus to look more like a little man than like a baby, then he would not have also depicted Jesus as a typical baby reaching out to touch his mother. By the time Lippi produced the "Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels," artists had grasped perspective and form with more finesse than they had one hundred and fifty years before. The figures in Lippi's painting appear more realistic and softer than the stiff images on the di Buoninsegna painting.