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Picture Analysis
The two works were likely completed after the Black Death, as they were both Florentine artists influenced by Giotto, who died at the end of the 14th century. The two works echo Giotto’s style in that there is a distinct rupture between the lifelike representations and the Byzantine style that had preceded them. Byzantine art tended to be more symbolic and less concerned with realism. Here, in each of these Florentine works, one sees a good degree of humanistic representation, which Giotto helped to usher in and that would come to roaring to the fore during the Renaissance.
Each of these works are religious in nature: the one is a triptych—three paneled painting featuring elements of the Gospel—such as the Incarnation and the death and crucifixion of Christ; the other one is Christ the King, flanked by angels. Both of these works would likely have been located in a church. The picture of Christ the King is painted on the ceiling of what is surely a church, and the triptych was likely painted for an altar whereon the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered by a Catholic priest. The intended viewing audience was likely other faithful Catholics. The viewer would have used these images to inspire his faith, prayer and devotion. The iconography of these works consists of the Blessed Virgin with the Christ Child—the crucifixion—and the Kingship of Christ. The choice of iconography relates to the time in which they were made, likely post-Black Death, in that the imagery is real: the subjects are realistically rendered to give them a tangible quality to help reinforce faith that these individuals actually did live.
What is noticed first about the works is that they are skillfully rendered, lifelike, and yet still highly stylized with traces of symbolic meaning and symmetry overall, which links them still to the Byzantine style. These works are indicative of their moments of creation in the trecento, which was moving from Byzantine style to humanism.
These remarks could be applied equally to anything in Giotto's oeuvre. The total effect of Giotto's work is one of bold religious feeling. It inspires the viewer to accept the mythology and challenges him to understand his relationship to the God both preached by the Church and challenged by heretics. Giotto's works, like Pisano's or Duccio's, certainly inspire religious feelings and thoughts. They are dignified, spiritual, and affirmative. They put
Giotto's Kiss Of Judas Giotto's depiction of the Kiss of Judas, on the wall of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, was painted in the early years of the fourteenth century -- it is a religious illustration, meant to gloss the moment in Christ's Passion depicted in three of the four synoptic Gospels (Matthew 26:47-50; Mark 14:43-45; Luke 22:47-48), wherein Judas Iscariot identifies Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, so that he
Giotto and Duccio The Arena Chapel (Scrovegni) of Giotto (1303) and Duccio's Maesta (1308) are both masterpieces of medieval European art. The Arena chapel contains the fresco cycle and is indicative of the movement towards a more humanistic view of religiosity, while the maestro is a large altarpiece that includes multiple images. Both have a similar subject but were constructed with divergent intentions and distinctive artistic styles. Giotto di Bondone was a
This, however, is not enough to claim that Cimabue's work is as three-dimensional as Giotto's. Giotto, for example, gives his characters more depth and better realism. Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna is a tempera on wood, 325 x 204 cm. In size, which makes it slightly smaller than Cimabue's tempera on panel used on the "high altar of Santa Trinita church in Florence" (Kren, Marx "The Madonna in Majesty"), signifying that its
Nicola Pisano also depicts Christ's nativity on the Baptistry pulpit in Pisa. Unlike Giotto's nativity scene, Pisano's is a marble sculpture, and the different medium lends a different feel to the composition. In Pisano's nativity, the Virgin mother appears old, austere, and detached. She looks away from her infant child in a pose exactly opposite from that of Giotto's Mary who clings desperately to her fated infant. Pisano's Mary is
They are draped in white with gold frills around their neck and arms. Their long wings are white, red, and yellow. Similar to the saints of Cimabue, we see that the angels have halos surrounding their heads. The next area we will explore is the mid-ground of both paintings. In Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels, the mid-ground consists of the Madonna and child. The child resembles a small man. In