Art History the Mourning of Christ by Giotto - Assignment Example

Art History The Mourning of Christ by Giotto Plot discussion Giotto is a master of depicting truths in his paintings. His view is always direct and unprejudiced. This artist is fond of depicting essential elements in order to capture attention of the viewers at once. In the beginning of the fourteenth century, Giotto created his masterpiece “The mourning of Christ” which can be seen in Padua museum. The foreground of painting presents five figures near the body of a dead Christ. Three women hold Christ and over the ground. The most caressing figure is the Virgin. She embraces a dead body of her son tenderly. She expresses sorrow and grief, supposedly Giotto reflected the bitterest human grief in this figure. Other two figures surrounding Christ are depicted from behind and it is impossible to see if they are men or women. Maria Magdalena holds legs of Christ. We can assume that it is she only because of her red hair. Other five figures are in the middle of the painting. The central figure of this group is a young man with short hair cut and he looks very young. He leans toward Christ and stretches his arms to him as if he wants to embrace him. His face reflects sorrow and grief. Other two men from this group are calm and their sorrow is very deep inside, because they look like detached viewers of this tragic scene. There is also another group of mourning people in the left part of the painting. The picture is divided in two main parts upper and lower by a sharp mountain edge. In the upper part of the painting we can see 10 angels flying high in the blue sky, or if to say more exactly, are caught up in emotional explosions of sorrow. Giotto general devices’ analysis Generally, Giotto’s painting expresses a mood of sadness. He uses different devices providing his viewers with possibilities to look at deep space of the painting. He uses foreshortening and it looks like there is a lot of space in this painting. Pastel colours used by the artist create an atmosphere of motion in the painting, or fixed moments of motion if to me more exact. Soft clothing in the lower part of the painting is contrasted to sharp forms of the mountain in the middle of it (Lamentation). Giotto’s new devices belong to the techniques of the Early Renaissance. His painting is 3-dimensional, full of symbols and allegoric meanings (Lamentation). His manner of contrasting human and divine worlds can be seen in exact depiction of human clothing and angelic images. In such a way Giotto clearly shows that he delimits human and divine worlds. A detailed discussion of Giotto’s techniques In “The mourning of Christ” depicts Giotto made an emphasis on mother’s sorrow at Christ. It is even possible to suggest that the fact that the Virgin embraces a dead body of her son makes her pity sincere and there is no fright in her eyes. She looks directly in the face of her son. Maybe she has a hope to see his resurrection, because mother’s soul never betrays. In such a way Giotto shows that Christ would resurrect. The detail of the Virgin’s direct glance is another interesting device used by Giotto. Figures in the lower part of the picture are placed in such a manner that it is clearly seen that they are squeezed together and there is almost no space between them. For Giotto “painting is more than a substitute for the written word” (Greatest Works). Giotto’s painting is so real that it may seem that it was a real episode from life. Giotto’s figures are often described by critics as real. For example, "angels are real creatures with a genuine power of flight, we see them soar upwards, describe curves, ‘loop the loop' without the slightest difficulty, plunge towards the earth, head downwards with the aid of wings, which enable them to support themselves in positions that defy the law of gravitation” (Greatest works). During later periods angels were depicted as unreal and artists didn’t use any devices, making angels real. Giotto invented a device to depict angels emitting zooming trails and fire. They look like real bi-planes (Greatest works). This suggestion can be proved, because the main idea of the painting is to show motion, to catch and fix moments from real life and depict them in the painting. Ten little angels fly and express grief and sorrow at the dead body of Christ. This picture is divided in two main parts: the lower part depicts mourning figures, which are crowded and squeezed, but gradually they open their hands, their bodies are straight and it looks like a motion. This whole composition is filled with expression of emotions. In the upper part of the picture there is no crowd of angels or vanity; there is a clear blue sky above them. Angels are calm and there is no panic or pace between them. Thus Giotto opposes human society to Heaven. The former is in agony, Heaven is in peace. Angels express sorrow and grief too, but they fly high explosively. Angels show ‘10 separate explosions of pain’ (Greatest works). These 10 explosions can be compared to 10 bright and immediate fireworks or splashes. We can trace Giotto’s intention to make a hidden comparison of explosion reflected by angels to a history of pyrotechnics that was developed those times (Greatest works). Giotto positions himself as an aware contemporary of his epoch. He wanted not only to make a story of Christ real, but he wanted to transfer much more information in this painting. Angels and humans depicted in this painting lean their heads. Thus he shows that grief and sorrow express all living and spiritual creatures to the same extent. Though this painting follows the accepted line of “Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque” (Greatest works), Giotto’s manner of painting has still been vividly discussed by critics. A lot of artists from different periods have tried to transfer this religious plot in different manner. This fact proves once again that Giotto uses direct devices in his painting though all of them have a deep sense and a strong background. Therefore Giotto’s devices are direct and real to life, but it can’t go without saying that his devices are allegoric too. In the Middle Ages Giotto’s art was unique. Giotto’s art dispelled a myth about a completed depiction of every figure, how it was accepted in ancient Egyptian art. This artist liked to depict essential elements in order to capture attention of the viewers at once. Giotto used more complicated devices; he tried to reflect mourn in the every figure of the painting, making his figures real as if they were photographed. Appendix I Giotto. Lamentation (1306). Works cited 1. Lamentation by Giotto. [online]. Available at: http://www.artmuseums.com/giotto.html 2. Great Works: The Lamentation of Christ (1305-6), Giotto. (10 April 2009) [online]. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-the-lamentation-of-christ-13056-giotto-1666447.html Read More