A Style Borne of Necessity

Gentile da Fabriano - Annunciation - c. 1425 - Tempera and gold leaf on wood, 41 x 48 cm - Pinacoteca, Vatican (click photo for larger image)By the end of the 14th century, the fusion of Italian and Northern European art had led to the development of an International Gothic style. As a consequence of the Black Death, which disseminated the population of Europe, leading artists traveled from Italy to France, vice versa, and all over Europe, in order to get work. As a result, ideas spread and merged, until eventually artists in what became known as the International Gothic style could be found in France, Italy, England, Germany, Austria and Bohemia. “In the International Gothic style (also known as the "beautiful style" or the "soft style") the oddities of natural forms are smoothed away, leaving behind an elegant, delicate realism, which perfectly suited the decorative needs of the royal courts which gave birth to it.” The style was sophisticated and cosmopolitan. In painting, one of the foremost practitioners was Gentile da Fabriano (c. 1370-1427). The small panel featured here combines the rigor of perspective construction with embellishments of pronounced courtly inspiration. It’s generally dated to around 1425, when the artist (on his way to Rome) spent a period of residence in Florence. It was there that he created some of his greatest masterpieces.

The scene takes place in a room enclosed on three sides and opened in front as if by a portico. The Virgin is startled by the angel's annunciation as she sits, hands folded in her lap, with an open prayer book beside her. Note that the settee on which she’s seated is richly ornamented, bearing shapes of diamonds, lozenges, and intersecting circles.

Simone Martini: A Sienese Master

Simone Martini - St. Martin is Knighted (scene 3 in a series of frescoes) 1312-17 - Fresco, 265 x 200 cm - Cappella di San Martino, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi (click photo for larger image)Simone Martini (c. 1280-1344) was a Sienese painter, who was the pupil of the great master, Duccio. Simoe developed the use of outline for the sake of linear rhythm, and also used sophisticated color harmonies that were implicit in Duccio. Simone was also heavily influenced by the sculpture of Giovanni Pisano, and even more by French Gothic art. The stories of the life of St Martin that Simone could have used as sources for a series of frescoes devoted to the saint contain references to his military promotions. We can therefore suppose that our painter was surrounded by a world of tournaments and hunting expeditions. The artist used the scene of Martin's investiture to focus attention on courtly and aristocratic customs.

The Master of Moulins

The Master of Moulins - The Moulins Triptych (central panel) - 1498-99 - Panel, 157 x 283 cm - Cathedral, Moulins (click photo for larger image)The Master of Moulins (active 1480-1500) was French painter considered the most important practitioner of the International Gothic Style, as it was realized in France. He was named after a triprych in Moulins Cathedral, representing the Madonna with Saints and Donors, dated c. 1498. The style of this work is quite distinctive, and has enabled a considerable oeuvre to be built up around it. The Master of Moulins' sculptural precision of form, the poise of his individual figures, his brilliant palette, the harmony of his compositions, and his taste for splendid and meticulous details make him one of the outstanding painters of his period in northern Europe. Various attempts have been made to identify the Master of Moulins with named artists, but none has met with general acceptance. In the detail featured here, the figures are ranged in symmetrical and equal masses around the Madonna, who acts as the central magnet of the composition. The accumulation of colors vibrating in the corona gives the air of a third dimension to the picture.