Sassetta: A Dreamlike Blending of Reality and Unreality

Sassetta - Death of the Heretic on the Bonfire - 1423 - Panel, 24,6 x 38,7 cm - National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (click photo for larger image)Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) (1394-1450) was perhaps the greatest of the early fifteenth century Sienese painters. He mingles an innate conservatism, especially in his architectural structures, with a delight in the svelte forms of International Gothic figure design, and in the clarity and unity of Renaissance pictorial space. The essentially fourteenth century basis of his style is the dreamlike blending of reality and unreality, and of graceful calm and visionary fervor.

Sassetta: An Enchanting Narrative Painter

Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) (Italian, Siena or Cortona ca. 1400–1450 Siena) - The Journey of the Magi - ca. 1433–35 - Tempera and gold on wood - 8 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. (21.6 x 29.8 cm) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (click photo for larger image)

Italian painter Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) (1394 - c. 1450) was one of the most enchanting narrative painters of the fifteenth century. Although the work featured here is only a fragment, it is one of the artist’s most popular creations. Sassetta has imagined the Magis' journey as a contemporary pageant, including fashionably attired figures and courtly details, such as the hunting falcon on a man's arm and the monkey riding on the back of a donkey. The ostriches on the hill symbolize the miraculous birth of Christ.

“This scene, by the leading painter of fifteenth-century Siena, shows the three magi journeying to Bethlehem to worship Christ. It is a fragment from a small altarpiece showing the Adoration of the Magi. Originally, the star was shown above the tiled roof of the stable. The fur-lined hat worn by the magus in pink was inspired by the visit to Siena in 1432 of King Sigismund of Hungary. The picture may date about 1433–35.” (Metropolitan Museum of Art) This panel was originally the upper part of a small Adoration of the Magi now in the Palazzo Chigi-Saraceni in Siena. (The upper edge of the stable roof is just visible along the bottom right edge.) 

Sassetta’s work mingles an innate conservatism, especially in his architectural structures, with a delight in the svelte forms of International Gothic figure design, and in the clarity and unity of Renaissance pictorial space.

Taddeo Gaddi: “The Tree of Life”

Taddeo Gaddi - Last Supper, Tree of Life and Four Miracle Scenes - c. 1360 - Fresco, 1120 x 1170 cm - Refectory, Santa Croce, Florence (click photo for larger image)

Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1300-1366) was an Early Italian Renaissance painter and architect—who was a pupil and follower of Giotto (c. 1266-1337). He was the master’s most important student and was with Giotto’s workshop for twenty-four years.

Gaddi’s work was more detailed and therefore slightly less powerful than those of his teacher. However, his innovative spirit led him to experiments with the representation of light that are highly effective. Moreover, he eventually returned to the more simplified approach of Giotto, creating works on the walls of the refectory of Santa Croce (a Franciscan monastery in Florence) that are among his very best.

Detail of the above work (click photo for larger image)

For the end wall of their refectory the Franciscans commissioned Gaddi to paint a Last Supper, an appropriate subject for the friars' dining hall. Above that, the artist painted a Tree of Life, a devotional subject derived from the writings of the Franciscan Saint Bonaventure.To reinforce both its Franciscan and refectory context, the mystical tree is surrounded by a depiction of Saint Francis's stigmatisation and the upper left and three holy events that take palace at meals, including the penitential image of Mary Magdalen washing the feet of Christ with her tears at the lower right. The work is loaded with vigor and a rich iconographical scheme.

The Adoration of the Magi

Unknown Master (German) - “The Adoration of the Magi” - c. 1420 - Tempera on pine, 100 x 81 cm - Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt (click photo for larger image)This relatively large-size painting was used to decorate the high altar of the parish church of Ortenberg. It was painted by an unknown master of the Middle Rhineland. The influence of both the French and Italian art of the period is evident. The mood of the painting is sublime and solemn. It is imbued with infinite humility and devotion, as the two kneeling Magi kiss the hand and foot of the Baby Jesus. Further veneration is expressed by the Kings’ removal of their crowns.

Donatello’s “David” - A Risky Endeavor

Donatello - David - 1430s - Bronze, height 158 cm - Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence (click photo for larger image)Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (c. 1386 – December 13, 1466). As a free-standing, life-size nude—the first of the post-classical age - Donatello’s bronze “David” is undoubtedly one of the most important sculptures of the Italian Early Renaissance. No matter from which side one approaches the work, one always sees a figure of extremely harmonious grace and almost playful lightness. Androgynous sensuality, pervading the whole figure, eclipses recollection of the recent battle with Goliath, upon whose severed head David has placed his foot. During the time of the Renaissance when the statue was created, sodomy was illegal, and over 14,000 people had been tried in Florence for this crime. So this statue—based on a live model of a young male—rather than on antique statuary—was quite risky and dangerous. Luckily for the artist, he was under the protection of the Medici.