Cimabue vs. Giotto: Medieval vs. Renaissance Madonna

Introduction: Two Madonnas, Two Traditions

Cimabue's Enthroned Madonna and Child (c. 1285) and Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna (c. 1305) are very similar in several ways. However, the two artists represent very different tendencies in iconography and didacticism. This paper compares the two works according to style, compositional organization, material and medium, size, color, and texture, and shows how Cimabue represents the late medieval tradition while Giotto represents the new, modern naturalism of the early Renaissance.

Vasari's Assessment and Stylistic Contrast

Vasari compares Cimabue and Giotto in his famous Lives of the Artists, and the fact that both are discussed at the beginning of his volume indicates that the two have more in common than not. Vasari writes, "Cimabue was, in one sense, the principal cause of the renewal of the art of painting, but Giotto, though his follower, … was the man whose thoughts rose even higher and who opened the gates of truth …" (Vasari 13). This analysis may be seen clearly in Cimabue's Enthroned Madonna and in Giotto's Ognissanti.

From the standpoint of style alone, the former expresses the vivid but overall two-dimensional, flat iconography of the medieval world with great finesse and lucidity. The latter, however, shows a remarkable depth — not entirely unsought by Cimabue — and a solid, three-dimensional representation of an iconic subject that fills the work with a naturalistic sense and gives the figures a realistic nuance. Giotto, in other words, brings the same subject depicted by Cimabue to life in a more realistic way, breaking all ties with the Byzantine school that so greatly informed Cimabue, Giotto's master. Thus, Vasari did not hesitate to call Giotto's work a gateway to truth.

Cimabue's Enthroned Madonna: Medium, Composition, and Color

The style of the two works can also be illustrated through their medium, size, color, texture, and compositional organization. Cimabue's Madonna is a tempera on panel, measuring 385 × 223 cm. The Madonna occupies the center of the panel, clothed in a dark blue cloak and flanked by angels in lighter-colored robes. Beneath the Madonna one finds representations of the foundations of the Catholic Church: four figures from the Old Testament — two prophets (Jeremiah and Isaiah) and two patriarchs (Abraham and King David). Everywhere the eye is drawn to brilliant gold, which serves as the background color as well as the color for the mighty columns — themselves representations of the structural Church that seats Our Lady. The gold establishes a sense of royalty, as the Madonna and her Divine Child are literally enthroned by the Church and the angels.

Although Cimabue works with two-dimensional forms, he handles his subjects with such spatial care that a tension emerges: it is as though his two-dimensional figures are straining to create a three-dimensional effect. The work is indeed not without such an effect — the arches directly beneath the Madonna's throne give an illusion of depth. This, however, is not sufficient to claim that Cimabue's work is as three-dimensional as Giotto's, who gives his characters notably more depth and realism.

Conclusion

Both painters begin with a similar subject, and the materials, size, texture, and composition are also similar. But the overall style is fundamentally different: Cimabue tends toward traditional iconographic didacticism while Giotto tends toward realism. Thus, Cimabue concentrates more on teaching a lesson through pictures, while Giotto concentrates on bringing his subject to life with a greater three-dimensional effect than Cimabue's Madonna achieves.

Works Cited

Kren, Emil; Marx, Daniel. "The Madonna in Majesty." Web Gallery of Art. Web. 1 Sept. 2012.

Kren, Emil; Marx, Daniel. "Ognissanti Madonna." Web Gallery of Art. Web. 1 Sept. 2012.

Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Artists. UK: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.