GIOTTO'S OGNISSANTI MADONNA

GIOTTO'S OGNISSANTI ALTARPIECE


One of the best ways to measure the difference between Gothic and Renaissance art is to compare two altarpieces in the Uffizi Gallery, GIOTTO'S MAESTA for the church of Ognissanti in Florence (1310) and VENEZIANO'S ALTARPIECE for the church of SANTA LUCIA DEI MAGNOLI (also Florence)(1445) (next blog entry):
 

Both were altarpieces made for smaller churches away from the center of Florence, but the Giotto altarpiece is considerably larger than the one made by Veneziano. Both paintings are of the same subject, the Madonnna and Child ENTHRONED with saints, and both are painted in tempera on panel.

           What is GOTHIC about GIOTTO's painting? The first thing to notice is the Gothic arch in the construction of the throne. A Gothic arch in architecture is pointed, unlike Romanesque arches which are round. Here the point of the Gothic arch is reinforced by the pointed elements in the gable of the throne and in the pointed shape of the altarpiece itself.

1) The Madonna and Child are larger than the surrounding figures because they are the MOST IMPORTANT SACRED FIGURES. Giotto's Madonna and Child look like a painted version of

the statue Arnolfo da Cambio carved out of marble for the facade of the Florence Cathedral:

She is enormous, stiff, blocky, and Giotto gives her shadows under the chin and around the breasts and neck to make her appear to be three-dimensional, but because she is so much bigger than the other figures, the viewer sees her as removed from real life and holier than normal humans, in a realm by herself and up the stairs on her throne. Even her Child is similar to the Arnolfo; he blesses with his right hand and sits on her lap in similar fashion.

Both Mother and Child are large, too, because they are the most powerful figures in the scene.

2) The background of the painting is GOLD LEAF, for the gold light of heaven, and the haloes that each of the figures wear are disks of gold, embossed with tools from Giotto's workshop. The Madonna and Child are portrayed raised up on a throne in heaven, with gold leaf outlining their clothing as well. They are holy figures worthy of the most expensive materials and covered with the most expensive cloths. The Child blesses with two fingers of the right hand. These haloed creatures are extraordinary humans, not living in a human landscape.

The angels and saints on either side of the Madonna in Giotto's version are placed symmetrically, same number on each side, and the angels in the foreground bring the Madonna symbolic gifts. One on the left holds a crown because the Madonna is considered the QUEEN OF HEAVEN; the one on the right holds an incense box to keep the throne area perfumed. The two angels kneeling in front hold vases of lilies and roses, symbolic of the Virgin's purity and love. These types of altarpieces are sometimes known as Madonna in MAESTA, the Madonna in Majesty, because she is displayed as royalty.

          The child looks like a small adult and the throne is perforated with quatrefoil decoration in the windows and pointed arch finials.

          HOW is GIOTTO moving away from the GOTHIC way of presenting this scene?

1) The artist is interested in space and how to represent things being further forward or further backward in depth. His pictorial space progresses from the picture plane at the lowest part of  the painting, to the kneels of the white angels, to the first step of the throne stairs, to the green robes of the front angels, to the first section of the pedestal of the throne room, to the seated Madonna and Child, to the seat she is sitting on complete with cushion, with the saints on either side of that, to

the back of the throne room, to the rows of saints looking through the windows on either side, to the

gold leaf of the background landscape of HEAVEN.  ALMOST 11 separate delineations of SPACE!

He is obviously intent on showing his skill at being able to demonstrate the receding pictorial planes

in regular, mathematical fashion. At the same time, however, the emphasis is on the vertical, with the people who are most important being placed closest to the top.

2) In keeping with his interest in the depiction of picture planes and depth in space, he has used shadows to convey space that is receding, such as the shadows on the necks of the angels and around their knees.

3) The most interesting advance in his depiction of depth occurs in the throne ceiling and windows and in the steps of the throne.

If you look closely at the ceiling of the throne room, 

you will notice that the right side of the ceiling (painted in red and gold) is larger than the area of the ceiling shown on the left. By the same token the left side of the throne steps (the vertical part) is larger than the right side, or, we see more of the left side of the throne step in front than we do of the right side. 

 

We also see more of the opening of the right window of the throne and its concomitant saint's face) than we do of the left window and its saint's face. 

 

 

WHAT IS GIOTTO DOING? He is showing us more of the right side than the left in the ceiling and windows, and more of the left side of the staircase in order to convey the sense that we are not looking at the throne from the front of it, but rather from the left side. From the left a spectator would see more of the right window, more of the right ceiling, and more of the left side of the stairstep. 

For the first time in the history of Western painting we see the artist showing his awareness of the viewer of his painting. He assumes the spectator to have a position to the left of the scene, and he confirms it by having the Child face to our left and bless a person standing in that position. He is starting to think about the relationship of the holy heavenly figures to the spectator looking at them in the space of the church. His interest in space and depth means that he is observing more what happens in actuality in nature and is trying his best to imitate real recession in his pictorial world. Unlike other Gothic altarpieces, where the angels and Madonna are flat against the picture plane and the Madonna is huge, his Madonna and child are starting to look more like humans, with volume in the clothing and bodies suggested under the drapery.

          But he has not come anywhere near the mirroring of nature that is made possible with the

invention of ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE IN THE 15TH CENTURY. We will now move on in the next blog to the Renaissance altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned by Domenico Veneziano and see how it differs from Giotto's.

          Just remember when you walk into the Uffizi room where Giotto's Madonna Enthroned is

installed, make sure to stand slightly to the left where you can receive the full measure of the Child's

blessing,  and with it the full measure of understanding what Giotto is conveying with his large, wide-eyed Virgin on a throne full of gold. Then walk into the next room of the Uffizi to see the Veneziano altar and you will be taking on a new perspective.

          

GIOTTO's SCROVEGNI CHAPEL - 2 other images to notice

GIOTTO's SCROVEGNI CHAPEL - 2 other images to notice

If you have time, after looking at the scenes I have suggested, notice 2 other
images in the LAST DAYS OF CHRIST cycle on the lowest tier of the Arena
chapel walls (1303-06).
Firstly on the left wall as you face the Last Judgment:
1st image: KISS OF JUDAS

In Giotto's hand, the story of Judas' betrayal of Christ to the Roman soldiers turns into a royal battle. Most of the spears and torches held by the soldiers point toward the 2 central characters, Christ on the left with a gold halo and Judas in golden yellow robe that sweeps to enfold both figures:

The expanse of color in the robe also serves to isolate the two protagonists' heads, and the viewer focuses on the confrontation of faces, the face of pure good on the left and that of evil on the right.
Judas purses his lips to kiss Christ to identify him to the soldiers who were worried about grabbing the wrong man because one of the apostles, James the Minor, resembled Christ. (Probably Italians to this day kiss on both cheeks so that they will not be associated with Judas' single kiss.) The intensity of the expressions of Christ and Judas just adds to the powerful surge of the crowds painted into the scenes. Judas can't quite look at him, as he knows how horrible it is to be a rat; he looks slightly up so as not to face his truth.

The drama of Christ's meeting his betrayer face-to-face presents him as much entrapped in Judas' robe as in the knowledge of the end result of his arrest by the soldiers. But Jesus is not afraid. As Giotto portrays him, he is serene as he looks into the hatred of the man in front of him. The even proportions of Christ's head are juxtaposed with the short forehead, deep-cut eyes, prominent nose, and large jowl of Judas. For the artist, goodness must be aesthetically pleasing, evil ugly. But the confrontation takes over that competition as Christ is surrounded and swallowed up by the attacking crowd. Only Peter lashes out on the left, cutting off the ear of one of the Romans.

2nd image:  LAMENTATION  (on right wall as you face the Last Judgment)

 
The Lamentation, sometimes also called The Deposition, is the scene of Christ's body being taken down from the cross after his death.

Everything, including the landscape line of the hill, combines to direct the viewer's eye down to the meeting of the faces of Christ and his Mother.
 Mary is convulsed with pain and sorrow as she reaches to touch her child's body and see him one more time, even if his lifeless eyes cannot return her gaze. Giotto makes the corners of her mouth tremble and he stretches the eyebrow lines and eyelines to extend her abject wretchedness.
        The artist allows the viewer into the scene by painting two mourning figures seated on the ground with their backs to us; when we then take on their viewpoint, we enter the scene as mourners, too.

Other women weep around them; John the Evangelist throws open his arms in mourning, unable to understand.

 
Even the angels are wracked with sadness and pain. Giotto is a master of the art of painting feelings and this scene is where he best expresses the nadir of human grief.

GIOTTO's LAST JUDGMENT in the SCROVEGNI CHAPEL

GIOTTO's LAST JUDGMENT IN THE ARENA (SCROVEGNI) CHAPEL

Giotto paints a Last Judgment on the end wall of the Arena Chapel in Padua
in 1303-06 as part of the decoration of the entire chapel for Enrico Scrovegni, a Paduan banker.

           

His Last Judgment is organized as most Last Judgment scenes of the 14th century are in Italy:

ABOVE and LEFT:                              CENTER: CHRIST                BELOW RIGHT:
REALM OF THE BLESSED                                                              REALM OF THE DAMNED

                                                                                                             


It is probable that Giotto's version is strongly influenced by the
vision of Heaven and Hell he had seen in the Florentine Baptistery
mosaic of the Last Judgment. (He was Florentine.) In that earlier work, carried out sometime during the 13th century, the Devil eats damned souls in bodily form and the blessed are arranged in neat little rows as in Giotto's painting.                   Giotto, Devil in Scrovegni

Devil in Florence Baptistery, 13th cent. mosaic                              
                                                                                                            

 Blessed, right, Scrovegni chapel
Blessed, left Baptistery mosaic


Even Christ in a circular halo (normally called a "mandorla," (accent on the first syllable), which means an almond-shaped aura, but in both these cases more circle than almond) lifts the thumb of his right hand up as a gesture of approval toward the blessed and his left hand thumb down as a sign of disapproval of the damned in both works. Those gestures are taken directly from actual approval and disapproval signs of emperors in ancient Roman arenas. The right thumb up meant the highest authority would spare the gladiator's life; the left thumb turned down would mean disfavor from the emperor and could mean death. In the Christian context the gestures are judgments from God for souls in the afterlife. The Blessed are on the side of the right thumb up and their fate in the afterlife is pleasant; the Damned are those pictured on the left thumb side and their fate in the afterlife is full of pain and torture, punishment for their sins.


 

 

       Two things distinguish Giotto's Last Judgment from the Baptistery mosaic:
 1. The painter places his own portrait among the blessed.

  

 2. He paints a large scene of the patron, Enrico degli Scrovegni, giving a model of the church to the Virgin. This scene of donation is placed closer to the center, still on the left, but perilously close to the figures of the damned in Hell on the viewer's right.

 

Enrico Scrovegni had this chapel built and decorated in atonement for the sin of usury. A common practice now, usury (the idea of adding interest to borrowed money) was considered sinful by the church in the 14th century. Because it was creating something out of nothing (God's work) and because it was associated with non-Christian (often Jewish) banking practices, it was frowned upon by Catholic officials. Both Enrico and his father, Reginaldo degli Scrovegni, before him, were not Jewish, but they were bankers who charged interest when they loaned money. Their usury was offensive to the church but it also made the city council of Padua unhappy, probably because some members of the council owed money to both father and son. Shortly before the chapel was commissioned, the city council decided that the Scrovegni family would be declared bankrupt unless they agreed to certain city edicts:
1) they had to pay back the interest that had accrued on the loans to the city, 2) they had to build a chapel to atone for the sin of usury, and 3) they had to pay taxes to the city for the land on which the chapel would be built. Since church members who practiced usury were excommunicated from the church (meaning they were not allowed to participate in masses or receive bread and wine in the mass), and as there was no separation of church and state in Giotto's era, the disapproval of both church and council in Padua effectively meant the whole of Paduan society was angry with the Scrovegni family.  The pressure that the family felt to build and dedicate the chapel to Mary of Charity was both sacred and profane.
       Giotto's entire fresco cycle, then, is intended to win God's approval, Mary's approval, as well as that of the Paduan city-state, not to mention that of the church itself, for his patron, Enrico Scrovegni. Heavily weighted, then, the Last Judgment image on this wall. Giotto himself may be hoping that the work will win him a place among the blessed, too.
       But the proximity of Scrovegni himself to the horrors of Hell on the right and his offering in the center of the whole scene implies that Giotto left the "last judgment" on the sin of usury in the balance. (The cross even looks like a balance measure.)

    Scrovegni's anxiety to please explains why the very first drama painted by Giotto in the wall series in the chapel is the story of Joachim being expelled from the temple; Scrovegni is himself in danger of being expelled by the 14th-century equivalent of the temple, the Christian church.
Scrovegni's father, Reginaldo, was not childless as Joachim, but he was a greedy man who is said to have yelled as he was dying, "Give me the keys to my moneybox!"  Was Joachim's rejection and rescue by God
in Giotto's painting a parallel narrative to the reward envisioned by Enrico Scrovegni for the sin of his family greed? And, as Professor Vincent Scully used to say, "Do you think Giotto made a case for Enrico in heaven?"
 

Who is the last judge?

Surely not the monk who obligingly holds the model for Enrico as he kneels to the Virgin and 2 angels:

The viewer will be the last to judge.