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Two Italian Paintings Essay The Madonna and Child subject matter was culled from Duccio di Buoninsegna’s (considered the father of Sienese painting) â€Å"Maestà ¡Ã¢â‚¬  which depicts â€Å"the Madonna and Child enthroned with saints and angels on the front of its two-sided panel (â€Å"Sienese Paintings†). Enriching each painting are Byzantine influences, the so-called International Gothic Style and the work of seven great Italian artists, four Sienese[1] painters and one sculptor: Duccio di Buoninsegna (active by 1278); Simone Martini (active by 1315), brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (active 1320-44 and 1319-47 respectively), and sculptor Giovanni Pisano (active 1284-1314); one Florentine painter Giotto di Bondone (1266/76-1337) heralded as the father of Western Art; and one Roman painter Pietro Cavallini (ca. 1240 – after ca. 1330) also credited with changing the course of Italian Painting[2] (â€Å"Sienese Painting† and â€Å"Panel Painting†). Evidence of the evolving Sienese style appears in Paolo di Giovanni Fei’s and Giovanni di Paolo’s work when you consider that both reflect Simone’s tendency towards â€Å"richly tooled surfaces with elegant naturalism[3]† and the Lorenzetti brothers â€Å"native feeling for rich color harmonies and precocious interest in genre-like details† (â€Å"Sienese Painting†). To that end Paolo di Giovanni Fei ‘s work, on the same subject matter, the Madonna and Child, is a creation of deliberation as the process of creating a panel was involved. Fei’s style is â€Å"characterized by a fanciful use of color and emphasis of detail rather than rational spatial illusionism† (â€Å"Paolo di Giovanni Fei†). The wonderfully varied palette of â€Å"Madonna Nursing Her Child† , a work dating from the late Medieval Italian period, ranges from the gold ground to the deeply indigo-hued robe of the Madonna with its turquoise and agate lining and gold detailing to the pale coral of her Child’s swaddling with its chalcedony lining. The engaged frame reflects his fondness for detail, containing several medallion-like decorations, while halos, worked into the ground, surround the heads of the Madonna and Child. Present as well is Fei’s disregard for the third dimension giving the panel a negative aspect with regard to landscape which manifests as a sense of flatness behind the stylized rather than completely naturalistic figures. The nursing child appears to drink from an object more related in appearance to a chalice than the Madonna’s breast. Clearly, the Madonna and Child are the focal point of the painting as there is no apparent source of light in the painting. Rather it is infused with light, this being the overall effect of the gold ground; the oil gilding used to attach it; and the tempera, which not only gives a hard shiny glaze, but allows for the obvious hatching and crosshatching apparent in the brushstrokes. The brushstrokes bequeath a sense of layering and depth for richly luminescent color. And for all the visually apparent texture of the painting, the relief conveyed by the scrollwork and medallions, Fei still captures and coveys both the lustrous, smoothness of gold and its softness of flexibility. Some of the above characteristics are also true of Giovanni di Paolo’s â€Å"Madonna and Child with Two Angels and a Donor†, a later work from the following Italian Renaissance period. Barring the addition of the extra figures its subject matter also draws from Duccio’s â€Å"Maestà ¡Ã¢â‚¬ , depicting the naturalistic figures of Madonna and nursing child before a backdrop noticeably more aware of the third dimension than Fei’s. As to the medium and support, Giovanni applied tempera to wood, creating a panel like Fei’s but considerably larger at, nearly five feet by three feet with a shaped top. The frame is reminiscent of early Gothic cathedrals while the luminous colors and richness of detail bring to mind a stained glass window, little touches adhering to the style called International Gothic. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, â€Å"the flesh areas of the Virgin and Child; the angels and donor, and the floor and pillow are remarkably well-preserved, but the haloes of the Virgin and Child are modern, as is the checkered cloth of honor. The red of the Virgin’s dress has been repainted and the gilt floral ornament of her cloak; which is heavily abraded is also of recent date† (Caption for â€Å"Madonna and Child with Two Angels and a Donor†). For all their modernity the additions are in keeping with Giovanni’s palette choices as the red checked cloth echoes the Virgin’s red robe, while the addition of gilt ornamentation on her robe adds the luminosity, found in the gold ground. Giovanni covers a considerable range of hues in his palette, from the gold background to the ultramarine and viridian hued cloak with gold detailing and the crimson dress of the Virgin to the soft rose and gold trellis of the Childs swaddling blanket to the primrose, blue, and brown of the Angels tunics to the deep muddy brown of the Donor’s robes and finally the ochre, red, rose blue and brown of the pillow and floor. As with Fei’s earlier work, Giovanni’s later work after the panel tradition infuses light throughout the work as opposed to depicting a singular source to illuminate the focal point of Madonna and Child.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In a comparison of Fei’s â€Å"Madonna Nursing Her Child† and Giovanni’s â€Å"Madonna and Child with Two Angels and a Donor† each, while after the Sienese panel tradition, are clearly representative of their art periods. Fei’s work, with its two dimensional use of space is closer to the Byzantine style informing late Medieval Italian paintings and the rather stylized representation of the human form in addition to the choice of tempera for medium and wood for support. Paradoxically, Giovanni uses the same medium and support, tempera and wood, despite the availability of oil paints, which came into use during the Italian Renaissance, Giovanni may have tried to reproduce the panel technique used by Fei, albeit unsuccessfully. For Fei’s work seems better preserved than Giovanni’s despite being older. In overall effect, Fei’s work seems closer to the pagan roots of Christianity, lacking an awareness of the Neo-Platonic traditions, such as the Chain of Being which seems to inform Giovanni’s work. In the latter work is an awareness of humanity, represented by the donor and therefore the purpose of the Angels and the Madonna and Child, the salvation of humanity. In Fei’s work the figures are somehow abstract and more like extreme apostrophes of salvation. In summation, the works of Paolo di Giovanni Fei and Giovanni di Paolo reflect the influences of their Sienese forbears (â€Å"Sienese Painting†). Both â€Å"Madonna Nursing Her Child† by Paolo di Giovanni and â€Å"Madonna and Child with Two Angels and a Donor† by Giovanni di Paolo reflect the stylistic and technical qualities of their times the late Medieval Italian and Italian Renaissance periods, respectively. However, peculiar to both and in a sense unifying them under the Sienese style[4] are the artists’ choice of medium and support: tempura on wood with gold ground and subject matter the Madonna and Child and a notable Pisanesque tendency to incorporate relief, areas of sculpting into the painting (â€Å"Sienese Painting†). Works Cited Department of European Paintings. â€Å"Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages†. In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum .org/ toah/hd/pane/hd_pane.htm (October 2001) Department of European Paintings. â€Å"Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages: Panel Painting†. In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuesum.org/toah/hd/iptg/hd_iptg.htm (October 2001) Department of European Paintings. â€Å"Sienese Painting†. In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sien/hd_sien.htm (October 2004) Larmann, Ralph. â€Å"Oil Painting†. Art Studio Chalkboard. University of Evansville Art Department. http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/ (November 2007). Delahunt, Michael. Editor â€Å"Light, Oil Gilding, Oil Paint, Ground, Gesso, Medallion, Space†. In Artlex: Art Dictionary. http://www.artlex.com (1996-2007) Anonymous. â€Å"Paolo di Giovanni Fei†. Union List of Artist Names Online: Full Record Display.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The J. Paul Getty Trust 2004. http://getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?findrole= nation=subjectid=500013966 Anonymous. â€Å"Giovanni di Paolo†. Union List of Artist Names Online: Full Record Display.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The J. Paul Getty Trust 2004. http://getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?findrole= nation=subjectid=500116438 Paolo di Giovanni Fei: Madonna and Child (41.190.13). In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/iptg/hod_41.190.13.htm (October 2006) â€Å"Madonna and Child with Angels†. Scholar’s Resource. http://www.scholarsresource.com/browse/work/2144570308 [1] Siena with Florence was the chief economic, political and cultural center of Tuscany in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance (â€Å"Sienese Painting†). [2] â€Å"Maestà ¡Ã¢â‚¬  which depicts â€Å"the Madonna and Child enthroned with saints and angels on the front of its two-sided panel (â€Å"Sienese Paintings†). Duccio’ work belongs to the later medieval period which was influenced by Byzantine influences which grew in thirteenth century Italy with the fall of the Byzantine Empire at the hands of Christian armies. The work of masters such as Florentine Giotto di Bondone and Roman Pietro Cavallini not only led to the expression of more humanistic and less stylized depictions of emotions and figures but helped create a new approach to pictorial space so that the flat world of the thirteenth century became more analogous to the real world. This led to the ever evolving style of the Sienese panel painters who were fond of creating altar pieces for churches with the Madonna and Child shown on the main panel. [3] Simone’s style formed the basis for the so-called International Gothic style (â€Å"Sienese Painting†). [4] The Byzantine influences, the so-called International Gothic Style and the work of seven great Italian artists, four Sienese[4] painters and one sculptor: Duccio di Buoninsegna (active by 1278); Simone Martini (active by 1315), brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (active 1320-44 and 1319-47 respectively), and sculptor Giovanni Pisano (active 1284-1314); one Florentine painter Giotto di Bondone (1266/76-1337) heralded as the father of Western Art; and one Roman painter Pietro Cavallini (ca.1240 – after ca. 1330) also credited with changing the course of Italian Painting[4] (â€Å"Sienese Painting† and â€Å"Panel Painting†).