Giotto - Madonna Enthroned

Title: Madonna Enthroned (Maestà)
Artist: Giotto (c.1267-1337)
Date: 1310
Medium: Tempera and gold on wood panel
Dimensions: 325 x 204 cm

Giotto’s painting marks a major change due to its newfound naturalism and break from some of the iconographic codes of Byzantine art. In many ways it is still Byzantine- flat gold background, icon-like representation, symmetry, stiffness, hierarchy of scale of the figures. Yet the evolution is notable- figures are more realistic and three-dimensional; the Gothic-style throne; a tentative linear perspective; there are more details and finesse in the execution; Mary’s cloak is open, her top is revealing her female body, her hair is showing...