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 into realistic terms the very humanity of the saints, prophets, patriarchs, and the Christ by depicting each as a real human being in a realistic setting. They emphasize the reality of the Faith -- which was being challenged already by men like yclif, and which would undergo its most formidable test yet with the coming Protestant Reformation.
In conclusion, Giotto di Bondone depicted traditional religious subjects but drew the viewer into a more personal relationship with the ideas didactically expressed in…...
mlaWorks Cited
Johnson, Paul. Art: A New History. NY: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
Kren, Emil; Marx, Daniel. "Legend of St. Francis: 15. Sermon to the Birds." Web
Gallery of Art. Web. 1 Sept 2012.
Shearer, Robert. Famous Men of the Renaissance and Reformation. TN: Greenleaf
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 may be arrested. Judas has decided to signal Christ's identity by kissing him warmly, and the "Judas kiss" has thus become extended as a kind of metaphor for the treacherous hypocrisy of a betrayer or an informant. The eye-catching central portion of the painting here depicts Judas, with his left arm extended and the scalloped folds of his bright orange cloak hanging down like a theatrical curtain: Judas' arm more or less eclipses most of Christ's body, so we see…...
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 late Middle Age painter and architect and contemporary of the famous writer Dante (The Divine Comedy). Historians comment on his importance as a leader in style and subject matter for generations of artists after him. From an art history perspective, he is important because he broke with the Byzantine style that was so prevalent in his time. In fact, may consider him to be a clear forerunning of the Italian enaissance style of painting, with less stylized figures, more humanity…...
mlaREFERENCES
Lectures from William Kloss, Thomas Edison State College. Retrieved February 2014 from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQB5RVAmuZM
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 primary purpose was devotional, abstract, and didactic. Giotto's Madonna is certainly somewhat less traditionally didactic than Cimabue's. Cimabue, after all, gives a history lesson in his icon, incorporating Old Testament figures into the story of the New Testament Christ, illustrating how the ancient prophets and patriarch pre-figured and served as the foundation for the Christ. Giotto's work, however, is more representational: It strives not to teach so much as to make the subjects come to life in a real way.…...
mlaWorks 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.
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 also reclined but her looks off into the distance and not at Jesus. In fact, the baby Jesus floats in a space atop her outstretched body, wrapped tightly in what could just as easily be a sarcophagus as swaddling clothes. Mary's rigid restraint is coupled with the coffin-like imagery to portend Christ's death. The tension in Pisano's piece therefore accomplishes the same thematic goal as Giotto's desperate Mary who clings to her newborn. In contrast to Giotto's sparce composition, Pisano's…...
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 Giotto's painting, the mid-ground consists of the Madonna on her throne. Unlike the castle-like structure in Cimabue's painting, this throne looks more like a church.
The last area we will look at is the background of the paintings. In Cimabue, we find a gold and black panel, whereas in Giotto, we are confronted by square like bricks of gold.
oth paintings, in their exquisite detail, are accomplished works of art, and thus deserve their status as masterpieces of the Western artistic canon.
ibliography
Martin,…...
mlaBibliography
Martin, David F., and Lee a. Jacobus. The Humanities Through the Arts. 7th ed. New York:
Lisa Moore, 2008. 67-68.
The figures in Bondone's fresco are not given nearly the same realistic detail as in Masaccio's, but what they lack in fine lines they make up for in emotional presence, because the skewed perspective allows the viewer to see a number of profiles, each expressing worry and affection for the injured (and possibly dead) Christ, who is being cradled on the ground. Above the outpouring of human emotion, angels express some of the lamentations of the title. The key formal aspect of the image which serves to draw the viewer into the scene of the narrative is the outstretched arms of a figure whose head is almost precisely in the center of the image. Although the figure's hands and arms appear somewhat oddly positioned upon close inspection, they serve first to draw the viewer's eye and then direct it towards Christ by forming a kind of horizontal barrier blocking…...
mlaWorks Cited
Holy Trinity. Masaccio. Florence: Wikimedia Foundation, 2011. Web. 22 Sep 2011.
.
Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ). Giotto di Bondone. Padua:
Wikimedia Foundation, 2011.
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.…...
Art
The shift from Byzantine or Medieval art to the early Renaissance is perfectly demonstrated by examining the change in depictions of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus, or Madonna and Child, over time. hat we see is a gradual tendency toward realistic depictions of human form, as a way of making religious art less remote and decorative, and more immediately related to actual human experience.
e can begin with the thirteenth-century Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne. The painting is, in some sense, a highly stylized representation of a familiar image. The figures of mother and child do not really seem to exist in real space: for example, the gold leaf that is used for the flat backdrop behind the Madonna and Child is also used (in a decorative but not particularly realistic fashion) to highlight the folds of the Madonna's garments. here we…...
mlaWorks Cited
Soltes, Ori Z. "A World of Art, Lecture 15: Early Renaissance Painting in Central Italy." Online video. YouTube, 28 February 2014. Web. Accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IZ5m6rtqWI
(Kleiner, 2010, pg. 360)
While Giotto's Christ Entering Jerusalem, is a depiction of Christ entering the Jerusalem. In this situation, he is trying to instill a sense of history and righteousness by showing Christ entering one of the holiest cities in Christianity. At the same time, he is embracing the same kind of basic painting style that was most commonly used during the time. This is important, because it shows how Giotto is taking more a historical approach about various events that are occurring. ("Christ Entering Jerusalem," 2009)
When you compare the two works side by side, it is clear that the 13th century ible is telling a story about how everyone should be acting within society, by highlighting how the King is viewed in same light as other religious symbols. While Christ Entering Jerusalem is showing a historical approach, based upon past events (giving everyone a sense of respect and…...
mlaBibliography
Christ Entering Jerusalem. (2009). Art Work Today. Retrieved from: http://artworktoday.blogspot.com/2009/04/christ-entering-jerusalem-by-giotto.html
Michael Angelo's David. (2010). Turismo. Retrieved from: http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/allthingstuscany/tuscanyarts/michelangelo-david-facts/
Pieter Bruegel. (2010). Met Museum. Retrieved from: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/brue/hd_brue.htm
Dobson, R. (2000). Weighing of Souls. Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (pg. 1540). New York, NY: Routledge.
On the contrary, Giotto di Bondone had been a revolutionary, as he seemed to be determined to desert long-standing concepts in favor of newer, and more evolved ones.
Byzantine paintings have a general tendency to represent scenes from a two-dimensional perspective, and, most probably, in order to compensate with the lack of spatial depth, they use a greater number of details. In Giotto's Christ Entering Jerusalem, viewers feel as if they are part of the painting, with the painter's desire to involve three-dimensionality into his painting being obvious. Also, the painter simplified the painting by abandoning complexity and focusing on the essential. Duccio, on the other hand, has involved much more details in his portrayal of Christ Entering Jerusalem. Regardless of the attention paid by Duccio to details, his painting lacks realism, viewers being able to observe that the figures in it appear to be floating....
He is one of the few artists that were recognized for his work while he was still living.
One of Michelangelo's most exquisite pieces is Pieta. In this sculpture, we can see how Michelangelo was moving away from the traditional form of sculpting. Creighton Gilbert notes that how Mary and Jesus are depicted in the statue is not typical of Michelangelo's day. Mary is seated with the dead Jesus in her lap and this image "first emerged as an abbreviation of the scene of Christ mourned" (160). Harold Keller maintains that the piece is filled with contrasts, horizontally and vertically. e also have the opposites of the clothed and the naked. The position of Jesus' body is different from most pietas of the day in that it is horizontal, producing a "step-like composition based on the sharp right able between the corpse and the upper body of the Madonna towering…...
mlaWorks Cited
Barzun, Jacques. From Dawn to Decadence. New York: Harper Collins Publications. 2000.
Gilbert, Creighton. History of Renaissance Art. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1973.
Keller, Harold. The High Renaissance in Italy. NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers. 1969.
Lace, William. Michelangelo. San Diego: Lucent Books. 1993.
Human Figure in Art
The Ognissanti Madonna by Giotto, from around 1310. Tempera on panel. Located at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Giotto's work is relevant of the transition period between Cimabue's work in the 13th century, with profound yzantine influences, including in the figures, and the Early Renaissance of the 14th century in Italy. Stokstad (2004) notes the influences of Cimabue in this work by Giotto, including in terms of the symmetry of the painting. The Ogissanti Madonna is also relevant for that transition, particularly through the touches of realism that Giotto exercise here, including elements such as the marble throne on which the Madonna sits. The entire painting also surprises through its three-dimension depiction.
The human figure here is severe and serious, dominating the painting. It is very large in comparison to the other figures, perhaps to support its central role in the work (it is also in the middle…...
mlaBibliography
1. Stockstad, Marilyn, (2004). Art History. Prentice Hall.
Art During Renaissance
The Evolution of Art During the Renaissance
The Renaissance period is defined as a cultural movement that spanned approximately from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe (rotton 2006, p. 6). This period in the history of art included the painting, decorative arts and sculpture of the period and for many was considered a reawakening or rebirth of historic and ancient traditions based on the classical antiquity and the inclusion of more recent developments by applications of contemporary scientific knowledge.
The Renaissance was seen as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern era. The period also marked a cognitive shift from religious perspectives to a more intellectual and social focus. Classical texts previously lost to European scholars became readily available and included science, drama, poetry, prose, philosophy, and new considerations regarding Christian theology.…...
mlaBibliography
Acidini, Luchinat Cristina. The Medici, Michelangelo, & the Art of Late Renaissance Florence. New Haven: Yale UP in Association with the Detroit Institute of Arts, 2002. Print.
Adams, Laurie. Italian Renaissance Art. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001. Print.
Barter, James. Artists of the Renaissance. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1999. Print.
Bartlett, Kenneth. The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Toronto D.C.
From this point-of-view, on Protestant art, the effect of Reformation is a releasing effect, with the former conceptualization into iconic figures of saints and Christ being transformed in the more relaxed imagery of peasants simply enjoying their time together.
On the other hand, Reformation had a different impact on Catholic art. Especially through its Counter-Reformation process, the Catholic Church wanted to impose a continuance of tradition even in terms of culture and art. This obviously meant, among others, a preservation and exacerbation of icon and religious imagery use in everyday paintings.
One good example of this is a painting of the lamentation by Scipione Pulzone. A traditional image in Catholic art, the act seems greatly increased in intensity in Pulzone's case. Despite the portrayal of a town in the background (as was the tradition during the 14th to 16th centuries), this remains not only lost in the background, but almost entirely…...
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