Madonna Enthroned — Giotto
A revolutionary work in detail.
There are exceptional moments in history when patterns are broken, and something new is created. A turning point that drives events and stirs the waters of progress.
Giotto’s existence and legacy, the result of the work of his predecessors and the inspiration for those who would come later, is one such turning point.
And it is stimulating to learn how the Italian painter renewed painting and laid the foundations for the glorious Renaissance.
When Giotto appeared on the scene, Gothic was in full swing. It was a style inherited from the Romanesque, in which the figures depicted lacked perspective.
Regarding religious representations (mostly Christian), the paintings based their composition on a hieratic rigidity that had already been characteristic of the Romanesque and continued in the Gothic, although with a gradual evolution that heralded changes.
Giotto was the one who spearheaded this change.
Until then, as we have said, the painting was based on two-dimensionality and rigidity. The subject matter was dominated by religion, the main and almost the only motif.
The figures were flat and lacking in feeling, with minimal and rigid gestures. This was so because searching…
