Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume II: The Western Perspective, Volume II (with CourseMate Printed Access Card)

by Fred S. Kleiner

rt historians debate whether the art of Italy between 1200 and 1400 is the last phase of medieval art or the beginning of the rebirth, or Renaissance, of Greco-Roman naturalism. All agree, however, the pivotal figure of this age was the Florentine painter Giotto di Bondone (ca. 1266–1337),

In contrast to the common practice of his day, Giotto based his method of pictorial expression on observation of the natural world—the

inaugurating an age some scholars call “early scientific.”

He showed his generation a new way of seeing. With Giotto, Western painters turned away from the spiritual world—the focus of medieval European artists—and once again moved resolutely toward th...

condemned the art of the late Middle Ages in northern Europe as “Gothic”

The son’s version of the subject offers a striking contrast to his father’s thick carving and placid, almost stolid presentation of the religious narrative. Giovanni arranged the figures loosely and dynamically.

The pope’s absence from Italy during much of the 14th century contributed to an increase in prominence of monastic orders.

friars)—the Franciscans, founded by Francis of Assisi (fig. 14-5), and the Dominicans, founded by the Spaniard Dominic de Guzman (ca. 1170–1221). These mendicants renounced all worldly goods and committed themselves to spreading God’s word,

Confraternities, organizations consisting of laypersons who dedicated themselves to strict religious observance,

The father worked in the classical tradition, the son in a style derived from French Gothic. These styles were two of the three most important ingredients in the formation of the distinctive and original art of 14th-century Italy.

The third major stylistic element in late medieval Italian art was the Byzantine tradition (see

italian artists’ names

Many individuals were known by their place of birth or adopted hometown.

Names were also impermanent and could be changed at will.

Furthermore, Cimabue constructed a deeper space for the Madonna and the surrounding figures to inhabit than was common in Byzantine art. The

Another significant development in 14th-century Italy was the blossoming of a vernacular (commonly spoken) literature, which dramatically affected Italy’s intellectual and cultural

renaissance huManisM The development of a vernacular literature was one important sign that the essentially religious view of the world dominating medieval Europe was about to change dramatically in what historians call the Renaissance.

Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, from Santa Trinità, Florence, ca. 1280–1290. Tempera and gold leaf on wood, 12′ 7″× 7′ 4″. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Regardless of the other influences on his artistic style, his true teacher was nature—the world of visible things.

Greece and Rome gave rise to the concept of the “Middle Ages” as the era falling between antiquity and the Renaissance.

Fundamental to the development of the Italian Renaissanc...

Humanism was more a code of civil conduct, a theory of education, and a scholarly discipline than a philosophical system. As their name suggests, Italian humanists were concerned chiefly with human values and interests as disti...

model primarily of human focus derived not from an authoritative and traditional religious dogma but from reason.

Ideally, humanists sought no material reward for services rendered. The sole reward for heroes of civic virtue was fame, just as the reward for leaders of the holy life was sainthood.

The humanist cult of fame emphasized the importance of creative individuals and their role in contributing to the renown o...

Critics from Giorgio Vasari † to the present day have regarded Giotto di Bondone (fig. 14-1) as the...

Giotto di Bondone, Madonna Enthroned, from the Church of Ognissanti, Florence, ca. 1310. Tempera and gold leaf on wood, 10′ 8″× 6′ ...

Giotto displaced the Byzantine style in Italian painting and revived classical naturalism. His figures have substance, dimensionality, and bulk, and gi...

bulk—qualities suppressed in favor of a spiritual immateriality in Byzantine and Italo-Byzantine art.

Among 14th-century Italian city-states, the Republics of Siena and Florence were the most powerful.

The patron contracting for the artist’s services could be a civic group, religious entity, private individual, or even the artists’ guild itself.

Guilds, although primarily business organizations, contributed to their city’s religious and artistic life by subsidizing the building and decoration of numerous churches and hospitals. For example, the wool manufacturers’ guild oversaw the start of Florence Cathedral (figs. 14-18 and 14-18a) in 1296, and the wool merchants’ guild supervised the completion of its dome

Monastic orders, confraternities, and the popes were also major art patrons. In addition, wealthy families and individuals—for example, the Paduan banker Enrico Scrovegni (fig. 14-1)—co...

Patrons normally asked artists to submit drawings or models for approval, and they expected the artists they hired to adhere...

If the said panel is not beautifully painted and it is not embellished according to the wishes and desires of the same lessors, they are in no way bound to pay him the price or any part of it. †

Sometimes patrons furnished the materials and paid artists by the day instead of a fixed amount. That was the arrangement Duccio made on October 9, 1308, when he agreed to paint the Maestà (fig. 14-9) for the high altar of Siena Cathedral.

Duccio has promised to paint and make the said panel as well as he can and knows how, and he further agreed not to accept or receive any other work u...

to pay the said Duccio sixteen solidi of the Sienese denari as his salary for the said wor...

Many of Duccio’s panels are on display today as single masterpieces, scattered among the world’s museums.

from Byzantine tradition. But the artist relaxed the strict frontality and rigidity of the figures.

This is a feature familiar in French Gothic works (fig. 13-37) and is a mark of the artistic dialogue between Italy and nor...

The works of Duccio di Buoninsegna (active ca. 1278–1318) represent Sienese a...

The Sienese believed the Virgin had brought them victory over the Florentines at the battle of Monteperti in 1260, and she was the focus ...

So great was Duccio’s stature that church officials permitted him to include his name in the dedicatory inscription on the front of the...

Duccio consistently dressed Jesus in blue robes in most of the panels, but beginning with Transfiguration, he gilded the Savior’s garment.

Duccio carefully differentiated among the anger of Peter, the malice of Judas (echoed in the faces of the throng about Jesus), and the apprehension and timidity of the fleeing disciples. These figures are actors in a religious drama the artist interpreted in terms of thoroughly human actions and reactions. In this and the other narrative panels, for example, Jesus’ Entry into Jerusalem (fig. 14-10a), a theme treated also by Giotto in the Arena Chapel (fig. 14-8a), Duccio took a decisive step toward the humanization of religious subject matter.

Duccio thus recognized how the function of the altarpiece naturally limited experimentation in depicting narrative action and producing illusionistic effects (such as Giotto’s) by modeling forms and adjusting their placement in pictorial space.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, Italy was the distribution center for the great silk trade from China and the Middle East.

People throughout Europe (Duccio and other artists among them) prized fabrics from China, Persia, Byzantium, and the Islamic world. In Maestà, Duccio created the glistening and shimmering effects of textiles, ada...

In this dramatic depiction of Judas’s betrayal of Jesus, the actors display a variety of individual emotions. Duccio here took a decisive step toward the humanization of religious subject matter.