Ambrogio Lorenzetti: A Genius Lost Too Soon

Ambrogio Lorenzetti - Annunciation - 1344 - Tempera on wood, 127 x 120 cm - Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena (click photo for larger image)Ambrogio Lorenzetti (c. 1290-c. 1348) was one of great Sienese painters of his era and part of a family of painters. In this late and highly finished work Lorenzetti abandons his usual earthy depiction of realistic and human detail in favor of emphasizing the almost Gothic elegance of the two characters. They face each other across a floor that is, however, painted in rigorous perspective. The signed and dated painting was executed in 1344 for the City Council of Siena.

Simone Martini: Harmonious Pure Colors

Simone Martini - Blessed Agostino Novello Altarpiece - 1324 - Tempera on wood - Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena (click photo for larger image)Simone Martini (c. 1284 – 1344) was a Sienese painter, probably the pupil of Duccio, who developed the use of outline for the sake of linear rhythm as well as the sophisticated color harmonies implicit in Duccio. He was also deeply influenced by the sculpture of Giovanni Pisano, and even more by French Gothic art. The scenes  of this altarpiece are organized according to the composition of ex-votos, each one being divided into two sections: the accident and the miracle, followed by a thanksgiving prayer. The architectural settings of the scenes depict an overall view of Siena (in the Child Attacked by a Wolf), a view of the narrow streets of the city (in the Child Falling from a Balcony) and even an interior scene (in the Child Falling out of his Cradle, also known as the Paganelli Miracle); and in fact one could say that the city of Siena is indeed the co-protagonist of this painting. The buildings of the city centre are counterbalanced by the rural landscape in the scene of the Knight Falling down a Ravine, probably a depiction of the countryside immediately outside Siena, with the towers of faraway castles standing out amidst the bare hills.

Duccio: Grave and Austere Beauty

Duccio - Ezekiel - 1308-11 - Tempera on wood, 43,5 x 16 cm - National Gallery of Art, Washington (click photo for larger image)Duccio di Buoninsegna (b. ca. 1255, Siena, d. 1319, Siena) was the first great Sienese painter, and he stands in relation to the Sienese School as Giotto does to the Florentine—yet without the powerful naturalism that makes the art of Giotto so revolutionary. Rather, Duccio sums up the grave and austere beauty of centuries of Byzantine tradition and infuses it with a breath of the new humanity which was being spread by the new Orders of SS. Francis and Dominic. 

The statues carved on the Cathedral facade have been identified as the most likely models for the figures of the prophets. In spite of their small size they preserve a solemn aspect, and the linearity of contour is enhanced by the gleaming gold ground. Ezekiel's scroll reads: "Porta haec clausa erit; non aperietur, et vir non transibit per eam" (Ezekiel 44, 2: This gate shall be kept shut: it shall not be opened, and no man may pass through it).

The Beautiful Byzantine

Margarito d’Arezzo - Madonna and Child Enthroned - c. 1270 - Tempera on panel, 97 x 50 cm - National Gallery of Art, WashingtonByzantine art flourished from about 300 A.D to the 1400s. It grew out of the early Christian world, and took its name from the capital city of the Roman Empire: Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople, then Istanbul when the Ottomans captured the city in 1453). Byzantine art was completely focused on the needs of the Orthodox church, in the painting of icons and the decoration of churches with frescoes and mosaics. The style basically ended with the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, during the European Renaissance. However, its influence continued for a considerable time in Russia and elsewhere where the Orthodox church held sway. Visually, it also has had its influence on modernism. Byzantine works are truly stunning.

The Medieval Matisse

(LEFT) Romanesque Painter - German - Wooden ceiling (detail) - 1225-50 - (RIGHT) Henri Matisse - The Painter's Family - Oil on canvas. 143 x 194 cm - (56.3 x 76.3 in) France. 1911, State Museum of New Western Art, Moscow (click photo for larger image)This pictured featured on the left shows a section from the painted wooden ceiling of a former Benedictine monastery church. It represents the “Fall of Mankind” and is an exquisite example of the Romanesque painting style and approach. The filled space exemplifies “horror vacui”—a Latin phrase meaning “fear of open spaces”—which is used as an international art term to describe the tendency to fill up every inch of space in a work of art. This convention is characteristic of most medieval art. In Christian theology, “the fall of mankind” refers to the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. It was and remains a very important theme in religious art. On the right we have a work by Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Now, Matisse—the father of Fauvism and considered to be the most important French painter of the 20th century—was among those Modern artists looking to break free from the academic standards that had been in place since the Italian Renaissance. So, he looked to pre-Renaissance art for inspiration, and you can see that he found it! He discovered a love for the bright colors, mixed patterns, and filled spaces of the medieval tradition—and similar applications of these conventions run throughout his highly influential ouevre. Matisse was inspired by the appearance of the earlier Resources work of art—not by its subject matter or its cultural significance. And many of his contemporaries and later artists followed suit. His result here can aptly be described as joyful—in part because the early days of modernism were joyful, optimistic, upbeat.