Today in class we continued our discussion of 13th and 14th-century Italian art, beginning with Cimabue’s Enthroned Madonna and Child. This work reflects the growing focus on Mary as the mother of God – the Theotokos. This image shows her as the queen of heaven and of the Church as an institution. Below Mary are the four prophets of the Old Testament that predicted the coming of Jesus. They are literally the foundations of the Church in this image. The style Cimabue paints is abstract in the sense that he does not aim to depict reality, but representations.
We then compared this work with Giotto’s Madonna Enthroned, which drew direct inspiration from Cimabue’s earlier painting. Giotto renders space in a much more natural way. The figures are not floating as in Cimabue’s, but clearly anchored in space. Overall Giotto’s work is much more naturalistic than Cimabue’s showing artists’ desire to be constantly improving art. We also talked about Giotto’s other famous work the Scrovegni Chapel. The interior of this building contains numerous scenes from Jesus’ life and other biblical scenes. As in his Madonna Enthroned, Giotto uses vibrant colors and very realistic figures. He can convey immense emotion in his depiction of the Lamentation, and he really aims to place the viewer in these scenes.
We looked at a third depiction of the Madonna Enthroned by Duccio, which is a part of the Maesta altarpiece. While stylistically similar to Cimabue in many of the figures’ faces and poses, it is significantly more dynamic. This work is extremely detailed and has a complex composition with figures on different plains. This panel is only one part of a larger, elaborate altarpiece of the Chapel of Siena.