Giotto di Bondone
La Lamentazione
(The Lamentation)
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| Giotto Giotto was born in 1266 near Florence in a little town called Vespignano. When he was young, a painter named Cimabue saw him sketching and was so impressed he asked him to become one of his pupils. Through Cimabue’s help Giotto became a painter. As the young artist became older he started to be recognized as one of the greatest painters of his time. 1His paintings dealt largely in the traditional religious subjects, but he gave these subjects an earthly, full-blooded life and force. Giotto’s painting style was somewhat Italian Gothic and proto-Renaissance, this style of painting influenced many Renaissance painters. Giotto would be known as the man who's style was studied by famous artists like DaVinci and Michelangelo. His talent would precede him into the Renaissance. |
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| The Lamentation (Lamentation: expressing grief) The Lamentation painted by Giotto in 1305 took him a year to complete. It is now located in a chapel in Padua, a city in northern Italy. The fresco, a painting painted on wet plaster stands 185 by 200 cm. It is one of many. The fresco is part of a mural that is painted all over the walls in the arena, a part of the chapel. It shows right after Christ has been taken off the cross, his disciples, admirers, Mary and his mother surround him in sorrow. Angels fly above weeping his death. The people who have halos around there heads are the religious figures. The Lamentation was painted right when the Renaissance was beginning but Giotto had begun to include Renaissance qualities in it. |
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| Analysis of the Lamentation During the Renaissance there were characteristic that were part of the art that were expected. The three main ones were classical balance, restraint and harmony. There were also other ones like individualism, realism and humanism and the new found style of painting in 3-D. Though the Lamentation was painted in the early Renaissance theses ideas were just starting to be formed.
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Restraint Art in the Renaissance was about showing off, who could produce the best piece of art for the pope, king or whoever would pay. But the artists knew when to stop and not overdo their pieces. When you look at Botticelli Primavera or Spring most will say there’s items everywhere but in reality he could have added so much more. Like their clothes there simplistic and flowing when he could have had very intricate dresses and gowns. In the Lamentation the same goes for there clothes. They are very bright but they are mostly the same colors so you do notice them but your main focus is on Jesus who has barely any on. This was the point if he had had Jesus in the same colors and have been overdone. Or if he had the sky really bright instead of the dark shades it is now it probably would have been too colorful.
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Harmony/Agreement When you look at the Lamentation the real agreement or harmony that flows through out the piece is the colors that the people surrounding Christ are wearing. They are all wearing very bright colors, which were commonly associated with the Renaissance. Many artists like Michelangelo and Botticelli painted in these very colors. The colors create an easy harmony, which was easily be obtained.
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Balance A big part of painting in the Renaissance was balance many paintings had a focal point and your eye scanned out to too other figures or objects that balanced the painting. In the Birth of Venus painted by Botticelli Venus stands in the clamshell. Zephyrs wings make it top heavy while flora on the right anchors it on the bottom. These two figures balance out the entire painting. This type of balancing was used in many artists work. In the Lamentation Jesus and Mary are the focal point this is very important because this is where the balance begins and moves out. While it seems at first that it is heavy towards the left because there are more people, the others on the left are more open in body language this makes up for the dense amount of people on the left.Your eye is led by the hill up to the right hand corner. Then over the mountaintops where the angels balance the top while the hill with the tree anchors the ground from the sky.
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Realism During the Renaissance Realism was a blooming idea that had caught the attention of many artists. During the middle of the Renaissance paintings seemed to come alive because the realistic quality of them. In the Lamentation even though they were not as realistic, they had begun to take on qualities that distinguished them from others. Like Christ and Mary there are qualities that make Mary look like a woman and Jesus a man. Also instead of painting flat Giotto started to paint in 3d his art took on dimension people could look like they were behind others. This new style would take us from the middle ages of everyone looking the same to people looking like people.Individualism/Humanism Individualism and Humanism are two ideas that combine together to form what focuses on the human body and there accomplishments. In the Lamentation theses two ideas apply to Christ. Christ may not have been like the Greeks and Romans in body type but his accomplishments outnumber those by many. The Lamentation focuses on Christ who has been killed but he is killed because of his accomplishments. This is so important because individualism and humanism is about the human race and Jesus accomplishes to create a new religion. The Renaissance was a era for new ideas, though the Lamentation was painted in the early Renaissance and did not include arches or the classics like the Greeks and Romans it was important because it founded a base for other painters that would be soon to come. Painters like Cimabue and Giotto would define what we know as Renaissance art. |
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| End Notes 1"Web Gallery of Art", Giotto di Bondone, b., Emil Kren and Daniel Marx, 1996, 18 January, 2007, http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/g/giotto/biograph.html
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| Bibliography "Art and Artist", History of World Societies, 7th edition, 2007 "Giotto", History of Art, 6th edition, 2001 Kren, Emil, and Daniel Marx. "Giotto Di Bondone." Web Gallery of Art. Jan. 1996. 18 Jan. 2007 <http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/g/giotto/biograph.html> . Kren, Emil, and Daniel Marx. "Scenes From the Life of Christ." Web Gallery of Art. Jan. 1996. 20 Jan. 2007 <http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/g/giotto/padova/3christ/scenes_4/>.
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