art history
Late Gothic Art in Italy
1. You will submit a written analysis of a piece of art from this module using the “Understanding Formal Analysis” worksheets attached below. Apply as many relevant ideas from the worksheets as you’d like, and when responding it should be clear you are using the worksheets to guide you and your thoughts and opinions rather than researching something online, or from a book, and letting that determine what you say. You are required to use the worksheets, and are not expected to “research” anything from any text. (200words)
2. Respond to peer’s thoughts. (20words each)
2-1. Peer’s thought: What’s really striking about this piece is the way it guides the viewer’s eye to the main focus of the fresco, the Virgin Mary mourning the loss of her son. The piece has a great sense of movement, the viewer’s eye is expertly guided from the lone tree at the top right hand corner of the panel, to Mary cradling Jesus’ corpse at the bottom left of the panel. This piece contains a lot more principles and elements of design than just movement, but all of them are used to accentuate this movement and bring focus to this piece.
This piece also has a great sense of asymmetrical balance that goes hand in hand with the movement, mostly clearly made through the use of negative and positive space. If you split the panel in half horizontally, the bottom half has almost no negative space, being almost completely filled with figures, while the top half is mostly negative space with a few small angelic figures spaced throughout the blue background. To create balance and not distract from the main subject matter of Jesus’ death, the area above it lacks clutter from an overabundance of figures. The angelic figures are much smaller and more spread apart than the human figures below, so the viewer isn’t overwhelmed with visual stimuli and is gently guided to the focus of the image. This balance through the contrasting use of negative and positive shapes can also be seen if we cut the panel in half horizontally. On the left hand side there are more positive shapes and figures than there are on the right side. On the right side there is a lone tree on the slanted geographical form, less angels in the sky, and fewer and more spaced out human figures observing Jesus. By having the amount of positive space increase as we go diagonally down, from the top left of the image plane, we have a nicely balanced asymmetrical composition that keeps the viewers eye from being distracted by too many contrasting focal points.
Another way movement and asymmetrical balance is kept in this piece is with the use of repetition and variety. This is most clearly and obviously observed with the angels at the top of the image plane. The angels all look very similar in their shapes, sizes, and clothing colors. but there are variations applied to them to keep the piece visually interesting and point focus towards Jesus’ corpse. The angels look very similar, but their poses and facial expressions are all adjusted to make the piece feel more dynamic. While the majority of the angels look downward at the main scene, they all do so in slightly different ways, one may be exposing more of their wings than another, or one may be touching their face while another has their arms outstretched. There are also a few angels who look away from the scene in horror in their own different ways or directions. This variety of expression and presentation of emotion keeps the repetition of the forms from being too stiff, while also making each figure feel like an individual. This can also be seen in the representation of the human figures, but it is more easily recognizable in the angels, whose expressions and gestures are much more dramatic.
Lastly, The most obvious element that guides the viewer to the main focal point, and provides an asymmetrical balance to the piece, is the semi-triangular shape of the landform that is in the quote on quote background of the piece. This geographical shape creates an almost perfect diagonal line that guides the viewer’s eye from the lone withered tree at the top of the land form, to the mother mourning for her dead son at the base of the land form. This landscape feature also recedes somewhat in the image plane by lacking complex detail and being of a very muted brown color, that allows for the much brighter colors of the figure’s clothes to stand out. While all of the figures surrounding Jesus and the Virgin Mary are shaped and posed in a way to point to the duo, the simple landform creates an even stronger and more obvious directional line that guides the viewer’s eye to the mother and son.
Through the use of positive and negative directional shapes, repetition, variation, and color, Giotto’s Lamentation grabs the viewer’s attention and directs it to it’s main subject matter. The piece is also an excellent example of an asymmetrically balanced composition, with the composition gradually increasing in visual weight from right to left until it reaches the piece’s main focus, Mary lamenting the inevitable early death of her son Jesus Christ.
2-2. Peer’s thought: Giotto relies on the vertical lines to show the life and depth of the characters in the fabric. The vertical lines are appearing on the ways the heads of each character are a little higher than the heads of the characters below them. This makes it easier for the viewers to see all the characters in the painting. The audiences easily recognize the geometric shape of the painting. The shape of the painting is similar to the shape of the house where Madonna is sited. In particular, the lines surrounding the Virgin Mary combine to form a rectangular prism which is similar to the lines enclosing the house. Probably, Giotto iconographically uses the rectangular prism shape to show the stability and indomitability of religion. In addition to the shape, Giotto uses the movement of the light and dark to create three-dimensional forms. This is evident in the ways viewers recognizing light before the dark cloth of Madonna.
Giotto creates an illusion space on his Madonna panting. The viewers recognize this space through the knees of Madonna which makes the viewers recognize that the Virgin Mary is seated on the throne in the real environment. Also, the folds of the garment show the volume of the figures bodies to indicate that the characters occupy real space. The masterful use of color is among the most remarkable aspects of this portrait. The painting contains a conventional gold background that combines with the gold colors used to paint the angels and the gold lines on the throne to create a holy light impression. The throne also includes the red and green geometric shapes that match with the robes of the angels and creates impressions of fragility and vastness. The painting is humanized and lightened by the contrast between the warm reds and greens with the light purples and pinks.
The texture is another aspect that enhances the masterfulness of the painting. The painting contains a human-like texture which is apparent on the flesh perception nuanced by the joy, awe, and respect facial expressions. Besides, the clothing of Madonna reveals the artists attention to details which are enhanced by the think luxuriant robes that fall realistically between Madonnas legs. These factors seem to occupy the real space which creates a human-like texture in the painting.
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