Exceptional painters in the vicinity

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Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages

Until the late eleventh century, southern Italy occupied the western border of the vast Byzantine empire. Even after this area fell under Norman rule in about 1071, Italy maintained a strong link with Byzantium through trade, and this link was expressed in the art of the period. Large illustrated Bibles (“giant Bibles”) and Exultet Rolls—liturgical scrolls containing texts for the celebration of Easter, produced in the Benevento region of southern Italy—enjoyed great popularity from about 1050 onward. Miniature illustrations in the Bibles, which relate to contemporary monumental wall paintings produced in Rome, were strongly influenced by early Christian painting cycles from Roman churches. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Christian armies of the Fourth Crusade, precious objects from Byzantium made their way to Italian soil and profoundly influenced the art produced there, especially the brightly colored gold-ground panels that proliferated during the thirteenth century. A Madonna and Child (60.173) by Berlinghiero, the foremost painter of the period working in the Tuscan city of Lucca, is one such example: in this panel, the Madonna gestures solemnly toward the infant Christ, depicted as a miniature adult, who wears a philosopher’s robes and gestures in blessing. This composition is of the Byzantine type known as the Hodegetria, which may be translated as “One Who Shows the Way,” as the Madonna points to Christ as the way to salvation. Starburst-like ornaments at the crown of the Madonna’s head and on her right shoulder (a third would have appeared on her left shoulder, here concealed by the figure of Christ) are also traditional Byzantine motifs, symbolizing Mary’s virginity before, during, and after the birth of Christ. At the end of the thirteenth century and beginning of the fourteenth, three great masters appeared who changed the course of painting: the Florentine Giotto di Bondone (1266/76–1337), the Roman Pietro Cavallini (ca. 1240–after ca. 1330), and the Sienese Duccio di Buoninsegna (active ca. 1278–1318). Giotto’s figures are volumetric rather than linear, and the emotions they express are varied and convincingly human rather than stylized (11.126.1). He created a new kind of pictorial space with an almost measurable depth. With Giotto, the flat world of thirteenth-century Italian painting was transformed into an analogue for the real world, for which reason he is considered the father of modern European painting. Duccio, founder of the Sienese school of painting, brought a lyrical expressiveness and intense spiritual gravity to the formalized Italo-Byzantine tradition. In a small devotional panel of the Madonna and Child (2004.442), Duccio bridged the gap between the spiritual world of the figures and the real world of the viewer by means of an illusionistic parapet, among the first of its kind in Western painting. Other exceptional artists who painted during this period were Taddeo Gaddi (1997.117.1), Maso di Banco (43.98.13), Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti (2002.436; 13.212), and Simone Martini (1975.1.12; 41.100.23). Simone Martini added an elegance and refinement to the spare form of Giotto’s art. Pietro Lorenzetti, a pupil of Duccio, produced works innovative in their imaginative detail and expressive naturalism (2004.442). At the start of the fourteenth century, elements of the Gothic style that emerged in twelfth-century France began to appear in Italian painting: architectural motifs such as the pointed arch, a refined delicacy of detail, increased naturalism, and an emphasis on fluid form. By mid-century, a surge of artistic output concentrated in central Italy integrated new ideals into earlier modes of depiction. The Byzantine devotional image of the Galaktotrophousa, or Virgo Lactans, which depicts the Madonna nursing the Christ Child, achieves a new elegance in Sienese master Paolo di Giovanni Fei’s sumptuously detailed panel (41.190.13). Bartolo di Fredi referred to pictorial traditions of both East and West in The Adoration of the Shepherds (25.120.288), in which the stable of Christ’s nativity is set into a cave. The artist used this projecting structure to experiment with perspective and the conveyance of spatial depth. Fresco
The technique of fresco painting, known from antiquity and especially popular in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, was used to decorate the walls and ceilings of churches, public buildings, and private dwellings. The bare wall was first dampened and coated with a layer of coarse lime plaster, called arriccio, on which the design was drawn or brushed in red earth pigment (sinopia). The overall composition was painted in sections known as giornate—Italian for “a day’s work.” Each of these sections was composed of a smooth plaster layer called intonaco. Pigments diluted in water were applied directly to the wet intonaco; as the plaster dried, a chemical reaction bound the pigment to it. Embellishments applied to a dry wall—fresco a secco (secco is the Italian word for dry)—are far less durable, as the paint tends to flake off over time. Fresco is vulnerable to moisture and may be damaged in a cool, damp environment; the arid Mediterranean climate is favorable for its preservation. The medium of fresco enabled artists to depict complex narratives, and to experiment with depth and spatial relationships. They were often painted in a series, or cycle, for a single space. Usually fresco cycles consisted of scenes from the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or the saint to whom a church or monastery was dedicated. Between 1253 and 1340, many of the outstanding artists of the period, including Cimabue and Giotto, contributed frescoes depicting episodes from the life of Saint Francis (1181–1226) to his basilica at Assisi. Chapels dedicated to other saints are part of the basilica. One, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, bears ten frescoes by Simone Martini, exquisite in their rich characterization, coloration, and detail. They are among the greatest examples of the Sienese master’s oeuvre, and some of the finest frescoes produced in fourteenth-century Italy. About 1303, the Paduan nobleman Enrico Scrovegni commissioned Giotto, renowned as the greatest painter of his day, to fresco the Arena Chapel in Padua. In cycles depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ, Giotto’s naturalism, compositional clarity, and the volumetric, sculptural presence of his figures combine in scenes of unprecedented drama. These frescoes were widely praised for their innovation by Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch; along with Giotto’s fresco cycles for the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels at Santa Croce in Florence—remarkable for their ambitious description of space and scale—they are masterworks that influenced two centuries of artists (1971.115.1ab). Panel Painting
Through the fourteenth century, the primary support for portable paintings—from monumental church altarpieces to diminutive works used in private devotion—was the wooden panel. Masters were assisted by pupils and workshop members in their lengthy and complex preparation. Modern technical analysis and x-radiography have deepened our understanding of this process, allowing for a close examination of the materials and techniques used by the artist. The basis of our knowledge, however, is a 600-year-old source: a treatise on the art of painting called Il Libro dell’arte, composed about 1390 by the Italian painter Cennino Cennini (ca. 1370–ca. 1440). A seasoned plank—one that had been allowed to dry out for some time—was first layered with several coats of size, a glue made from animal skins. In Italy, the planks used for panel paintings were often made of native poplar, a widely available wood that was, however, soft and vulnerable to warping. A piece of linen soaked in size was often laid over the front of the panel to conceal any surface flaws. Over this, coats of gesso were applied. Gesso, a mixture of powdered calcium sulfate (commonly called gypsum) and animal glue, provided the ground for preliminary drawings. When the underdrawing was complete, the panel was ready for gilding. Areas to be gilded were prepared with a layer of bole, a reddish clay that provided an adhesive surface for fragile gold leaf. The gold leaf was made by pounding a small amount of gold into thin sheets, which were then applied to the panel using a tool called a gilder’s tip. The gilded surface was rubbed with a hard-tipped instrument to smooth and polish the gold leaf, a process known as burnishing. Additional decoration could be incised or stamped into the surface using metal rods, called punches, with patterns cut into one end. The tip of the punch, placed against the panel and struck from the other end with a mallet, pressed the design into the wood. Punching was often used to achieve the intricately detailed haloes surrounding the heads of holy figures. Finally, the panel could be painted. Medieval artists used tempera paints, made by mixing ground pigments with egg yolk. This medium produces a brilliant, pure hue. Many paintings of this period have engaged frames made of wooden strips attached to the outside edge of the panel, some examples of which survive (2004.442; 41.190.13). Original frames may sometimes bear hinge marks, indicating that the work was once part of a diptych or triptych, designed to be closed. Independent panels were often used on private altars in a domestic setting. For large church altarpieces, it was necessary to join together independently painted panels with an elaborate frame. Usually, the Madonna and Child were shown on the main panels, flanked by saints and apostles, identifiable by their attributes. A strip of smaller panels—called the predella—at the bottom of the altarpiece depicted additional figures or narrative episodes from the life of Christ, Mary, or the saints (43.98.6).

Citation

Meagher, Jennifer. “Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/iptg/hd_iptg.htm (September 2010)

Additional Essays by Jennifer Meagher

Meagher, Jennifer. “Genre Painting in Northern Europe.” (April 2008)
Meagher, Jennifer. “The Pre-Raphaelites.” (October 2004)
Meagher, Jennifer. “Gerard David (born about 1455, died 1523).” (June 2009)
Meagher, Jennifer. “Petrus Christus (active by 1444, died 1475/76).” (December 2008)
Meagher, Jennifer. “Still-Life Painting in Southern Europe, 1600–1800.” (June 2008)
Meagher, Jennifer. “Orientalism in Nineteenth-Century Art.” (October 2004)
Meagher, Jennifer. “Botanical Imagery in European Painting.” (August 2007)
Meagher, Jennifer. “Commedia dell’arte.” (July 2007)
Meagher, Jennifer. “Food and Drink in European Painting, 1400–1800.” (May 2009)
Meagher, Jennifer. “The Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburgs, 1400–1600.” (October 2002)

The Birth and Infancy of Christ in Italian Painting
Byzantium (ca. 330–1453)
Sienese Painting
Venetian Color and Florentine Design
Botanical Imagery in European Painting
Courtship and Betrothal in the Italian Renaissance
The Crucifixion and Passion of Christ in Italian Painting
The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages
Domestic Art in Renaissance Italy
Drawing in the Middle Ages
Early Netherlandish Painting
Filippino Lippi (ca. 1457–1504)
Fra Angelico (ca. 1395–1455)
Intentional Alterations of Early Netherlandish Painting
Italian Renaissance Frames
Jan van Eyck (ca. 1390–1441)
The Master of Monte Oliveto (active about 1305–35)
Mendicant Orders in the Medieval World
The Nude in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Painting in Italian Choir Books, 1300–1500
Painting in Oil in the Low Countries and Its Spread to Southern Europe
Pilgrimage in Medieval Europe
Private Devotion in Medieval Christianity
Saints and Other Sacred Byzantine Figures

Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.
Italian Peninsula, 1000–1400 A.D.
Rome and Southern Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.
Venice and Northern Italy, 1400–1600 A.D.

Painted between 1503 and 1517, Da Vinci’s alluring portrait has been dogged by two questions since the day it was made: Who’s the subject and why is she smiling? A number of theories for the former have been proffered over the years: That she’s the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo (ergo, the work’s alternative title, La Gioconda); that she’s Leonardo’s mother, Caterina, conjured from Leonardo’s boyhood memories of her; and finally, that it’s a self-portrait in drag. As for that famous smile, its enigmatic quality has driven people crazy for centuries. Whatever the reason, Mona Lisa’s look of preternatural calm comports with the idealized landscape behind her, which dissolves into the distance through Leonardo’s use of atmospheric perspective.

Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665

Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Nat507

Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665

Johannes Vermeer’s 1665 study of a young woman is startlingly real and startlingly modern, almost as if it were a photograph. This gets into the debate over whether or not Vermeer employed a pre-photographic device called a camera obscura to create the image. Leaving that aside, the sitter is unknown, though it’s been speculated that she might have been Vermeer’s maid. He portrays her looking over her shoulder, locking her eyes with the viewer as if attempting to establish an intimate connection across the centuries. Technically speaking, Girl isn’t a portrait, but rather an example of the Dutch genre called a tronie—a headshot meant more as still life of facial features than as an attempt to capture a likeness.

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Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889

Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Wally Gobetz

Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889

Vincent Van Gogh’s most popular painting, The Starry Night was created by Van Gogh at the asylum in Saint-Rémy, where he’d committed himself in 1889. Indeed, The Starry Night seems to reflect his turbulent state of mind at the time, as the night sky comes alive with swirls and orbs of frenetically applied brush marks springing from the yin and yang of his personal demons and awe of nature.

Gustav Klimt, The Kiss, 1907–1908

Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/Jessica Epstein

Mythologies

A year later, Botticelli returned to Florence, to continue with the most prolific stage of his career.

The period from 1478-90 saw Botticelli at his most creative. This was the period during which he produced his famous mythological works, such as ‘The Birth of Venus’ (in the Uffizi, Florence) and ‘Venus and Mars’. In these he successfully combined a decorative use of line (possibly owing much to his early training as a goldsmith) with elements of the classical tradition, seen in the harmony of his composition and the supple contours of his figures.

Religion and Politics

During the last 15 years of his life, Botticelli’s work appeared to undergo a crisis of style and expression.

The 1490s was a turbulent decade – the Medici had been expelled from Florence and Italy’s peace disrupted by invasion and plagues. Botticelli rejected the ornamental charm of his earlier works in favour of a more simplistic approach that seemed crude and heavy-handed by contrast. These later paintings, with their deep moral and religious overtones, also suffered a comparison with the sophisticated aesthetic of artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael.

According to Vasari in his book ‘The Lives of the Artists’, in his latter years Botticelli became a follower of the fanatical Dominican friar Savonarola, and the pious sentiment of his later works would seem to suggest some involvement in the religious and political upheavals in Florence at the time. ‘Mystic Nativity’ is Botticelli’s most ambitious painting from this period and reflects this sense of apocalyptic foreboding.

Final Years

Vasari also suggests that, as his work fell out of favour, Botticelli became melancholic and depressed. He had never married, preferring the company of family and friends. Having always been known for his high spirits and quick wit, the image of Botticelli’s final years as a rapid decline into poverty, isolation and mental anguish is a poignant one.

After his death, his name all but disappeared until the late 19th century, when a developing appreciation for Florentine arts and culture brought about a renewed interest in his work.

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Exceptional painters in the vicinity