Giotto di Bondone was born in the year of 1276 in Vespignano, near Florence, Italy. He is known as the as the most important Italian painter of the 14th century. His work plays a part to the famous Renaissance developed a century later. For almost seven centuries, Giotto has been known as the father of European painting and one of the first of the great masters of art. Unfortunately, Giotto died on January 8, 1337. However, he lived a full artistic life: he painted frescoes in the Upper Church at Assisi, in the Lower Church of the Basilica of St. Francis, and across Italy's historic churches. He primarily worked with frescoes and the theme of his art is focused on events from the bible. His art style is has very dark and earthy tones and he doesn't shy away from using intense imagery like blood and death.
Above is The Lamentation by Giotto and can be seen in the Arena Chapel in Padua. This painting is known for the dark tones and the overwhelming sadness. It showcases the body of Christ and his followers weeping at his death. However, this painting is not your average depiction of a Bible story. Giotto wanted to make certain that beholders of the piece would understand that Christ was surrounded by his followers, so he painted the backs of two people in the front of the painting, giving a three-dimensional feel to the piece. This is revolutionary because most frescos such as this were two-dimensional.
Jan Van Eyck was born in the year of 1395 and was a prominent figure of the Early Netherlandish art of his time. Van Eyck served as an official to the ruler of Holland, John of Bavaria-Straubing. By this time he had assembled a small workshop and was involved in redecorating the Binnenhof palace. After John's death in 1425, he moved to Bruges and came to the attention of Philip the Good, and he was freed from commissions because of the court's salary. He used oils for his paintings and Van Eyck often conveyed what he saw as a harmony of the spiritual and material worlds using iconographic elements. The painting above is called the Arnolfini Portrait done by Jan Van Eyck. It forms a full-length double portrait, believed to showcase an Italian merchant named Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife. This oil painting has unique feature that was revolutionary at the time: a mirror. In the background, you can see a mirror reflecting the couple in the portrait. This was not ...
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ReplyDeletethe dimension theory is interesting to hear, I did not know and noticed the painting of the backs of the two figures and its meaning before. Your intro of Giotto is clear and easy to follow and the information content of the painting is rich. It would be even more awesome if you put in more original thoughts when you are writing about this lamentation painting.
ReplyDeleteI like your post, it is really intriguing and I like the fact that you did a lot of research on this.
ReplyDeleteit looks like you spent more then 30 seconds on this blog which is more than the rest of us can say; this is great! reflects the research you put into it with interesting facts
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