14th Century Art

14th CENTURY ART

Theme: “Growing Interest in Reality”

The Florentines began to pursue art forms that rendered the world around themselves more realistically. Bodies begin to return to mass-like forms, drapery fell naturally, and an elegant and decorative style developed. They rejected the popular trend of the Late Gothic.

Historical Context (1250-1400)

There are two opposing art movements in the 14^th century:

• Late Gothic / International Gothic

The Gothic style was very popular throughout Europe. It symbolized craftsmanship and decorative design. Figures were rendered with elongation and delicacy.

• Proto-Renaissance

Regions like Florence, Pisa, and Siena began to investigate art and use it as a medium to display important ideas or messages. During the Middle Ages, Italian city-states became wealthy as banking and trade became dominant interests in the Mediterranean world. Humanism developed. An investigation of the classical past and the study the accomplishments of humans became a central concern.

Guilds

Artists worked in guilds which were similar to unions. This worked organize apprenticeships, help artists, set prices, provide materials, and regulate commissions. This created artistic workshops which were free to join. The members were predominantly male, and it was rare to have females.

This existed until free markets of the 18^th century.

(3) 62. Röttgen Pietà

Late Medieval Europe (German). 1300–1325 (14^th). Late Gothic/International Gothic.

Learning Objective: Late Gothic sculpture

Themes:

Biblical
Death
Religion
Devotional object
Stylized bodies
Male/female relationships

Museum: Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany

Röttgen Pietà is a small painted wood sculpture measuring 34 inches tall. It retains its original paint,  with browns, reds, and golds.

The  dark colors emphasize the physicality of the body, which is depicted as both limp, but rigid in pain. This late Gothic style is more able to capture this feeling, while retaining the features of delicate elongation from Early Gothic. The Crown of Thorns, wiry body and crumpled fabric creates.

Creating an Emotional Response

 The goal of late Gothic sculpture was to create an emotional response in the viewer. Churchgoers were confronted with agony, death, and sorrow. This was very different from the  jubilant images of Christ that they normally saw in early Gothic art.

Andachtsbild (end-ACHT-speeld) is the German word for devotional image. It puts human pain in perspective and reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice and Mary’s great suffering. Religious figures are therefore humanized.

A Closer Look at Röttgen Pietà

The Virgin cradles Christ after he has been removed from the cross. Christ is emaciated, through living an ascetic life of deprivation to achieve greater spirituality. He is drained of blood and stiff in rigor mortis.

The horror of the Crucifixion is evident. Stigmata is visible on his hands and feet. The Crown of Thorns has caused his face to bleed. Mary’s face is twisted in anger, confusion,  and anguish, as tears roll down her face.

A New Christ

The is an early, medieval representations of Christ that is focused on his divinity. Prior  to this Christ was depicted on the cross but did not suffer. Eventually, by the late middle ages or late Gothic era, this new focus on a suffering Christ emerged.

Art Reflecting Life

Suffering was part of the 14^th century. It was a difficult time with:

• Hundred Years War
• Plague
• Famine

Artwork suddenly took on a tragic tone.  Fearful churchgoers sought comfort and reassurance in the idea that Christ and Mary understood their suffering and the woes of humankind.  Scenes of the Pieta and Mary’s suffering became very common.

This led to a period of worship called Marian Devotion. Mary was seen as an accessible, warm, motherly intercessor who could advocate for humankind through Christ.

Gothic Goes International

The Late Gothic Era was so popular across Europe that it is known as International Gothic. This German work illustrates just that.

(3) 64. Golden Haggadah

Late medieval Spain (Jewish). 1320 CE. Late Gothic / International Gothic.

Learning Objective: Jewish illuminated manuscript

Themes:

Cross-cultural
Religion
Biblical
Didactic
Status
Text and image
Appropriation
Materials with significance
Museum: British Library

This Gothic style of text was popular across Europe. It included the elongation of thin, delicate figures, lack of logical space, and Gothic decorative architectural elements.  Gold-leaf backgrounds were often frequently used.

The word haggadah means narration in Hebrew.

In the Golden Haggadah, this illuminated manuscript, using pigment on vellum, the scribe was Jewish and someone who knew how to write in Hebrew. It is written from right to left. Some pages have just text. Other pages have miniatures that were illustrated. There are 56 of these in total.

The artist was Christian and someone who knew the style of Christian illuminated manuscripts. It contains anachronistic styles of clothing and homes that does not match the historical information of the Biblical era.

This is one of the most luxurious examples of a Haggadah ever created. The gold illumination led to the name Golden Haggadah.

Function of the Golden Haggadah

The pages contain the narrative Passover that include a celebration meal called a Seder. It was made for a wealthy Jewish family in Barcelona. This was one way of displaying the status and wealth of the owners.

Books were incredibly expensive to make at that time. The Golden Haggadah was even more so with its extensive use of extra gold illumination. Therefore, it was more ceremonial in nature, than a book to read. It is still in excellent condition.

Inside the Book

Haggadahs include prayers and readings said during the Seder, along with images to help contribute to the storyline.

SUB-IMAGE 1 (The Plagues of Egypt)

In the top right, frogs overrun the land. On the top left the Egyptians are inflicted with terrible boils. At the bottom right wild animals invade, while at the bottom left a pestilence kills wild animals.

SUB-IMAGE 2 (The Scenes of Liberation)

The page shows four boxed sections. The box to the upper right contains three images about a first-born child. In the top right an angel strikes a first-born.  In the top left the Egyptian queen mourns her first-born. Across the bottom the royal first-born is buried.

In the top left box, the Pharaoh orders the Israelites to leave Egypt. Israelites hold up their hands illustrating the verse, “And the children of Israel went out with a high hand.”

At the bottom right, the Pharaoh changes his mind. He sends Egyptian soldiers to find the Hebrews. At the bottom left, the Hebrews have safely crossed the Red Sea. Moses lets the sea go and it washes away the Egyptian soldiers.

SUB-IMAGE 3 (Preparation for Passover)

At the top right, Miriam, the sister of Moses, and her maidens dance and play musical instruments. The instruments have Islamic motifs on them.  At the top left, the master of the house, sitting under a canopy, orders the distribution of matzoh and haroset to the children.

At the bottom right, the house is cleaned for Passover and leavened bread is removed. At the bottom left, sheep are slaughtered.

The Story of Passover

This is the story of a miraculous salvation from slavery. It is tradition to recount it annually at Passover Seder. The evening begins, when a child at the table asks, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” This sets up the ritual narration of the story of Passover, when Moses led the Jews from slavery.

• Moses tries to ask Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go,
• Pharaoh says no.
•  God works through Moses to deliver ten plagues to Pharaoh, each one worse and worse, to force Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go.
• Finally, the greatest plague God could send was the death of all first-borns, to protect Hebrew families.
• God instructs Hebrews to mark their doors with animal blood so that the Angel of Death will pass over those homes.
• Pharaoh’s oldest child, his son and heir to the throne dies.
• Pharaoh is devastated and agrees that God must be who he says he is.
• Pharoah lets the Hebrews go.
• Moses tries to lead the Hebrews to the promised land.
• Pharaoh regrets this and sends his army after them.
• To allow the Hebrews to escape, Moses parts the Red Sea.
• When the soldiers arrive, Moses lets the sea go. It washes away all the soldiers.

The Story of the Golden Haggadah

 Although the 2^nd commandment in Judaism forbids the making of graven images, the haggadah were exempt from this rule. This was because they were seen as educational and not just decorative.

This is an example of cross-cultural borrowing in medieval Spain.

• Christian illuminated manuscript format appropriated by Jews.
• Jewish text
• Spanish artist
• Spanish Jewish family
• Islamic musical instruments

Wealthy Jewish families often worked as advisers, physicians, and financiers so they were exposed to Christian court styles.

Artistic Innovations of the Proto-Renaissance

Artists became important social figures. These artists still worked in guilds. They made contracts with patrons, but now they began to sign their works. This indicated the growing importance and risning status of the artist.

In architecture, height and width were stressed. In churches, there wide naves, rib vaults and clerestories.

Painting included different styles:

• Florentine: large-scale panels; fresco and tempera; achieve 3D reality; Cimabue + maniera greca; Giotto moves towards substantiated reality.

• Sienese: decorative with rich colors; thin, elegant, courtly figures; figures are well proportioned; deep recessions into space.
• International Gothic style

 Sculpture was influenced by classical models, realistic masses and draperies,  horror vacuii and cluttered compositions.

(3) 63. Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel.

Unknown architect and artist Giotto di Bondone. Italian. Chapel : 1303 ; Frescos : 1305 CE.  Proto-Renaissance.

Learning Objective: Proto-Renaissance painting

Themes:

Religion
Biblical
Place of worship
Death
Offering
Human and divine
Private
Status
Didactic

The architect of the Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel in Padua, Italy is unknown. Artist Giotto di Bondone, designed the interior space so complementary to the exterior, that many believe he may have also been the architect of the 42 feet tall structure.

Unadorned, and made of brick on the exterior, and vastly decorative on the inside, it utilizes the old Christian symbolism of beautiful interior (soul) and austere exterior (body).

The simple basilica planned as an AKA rectangular barrel-vaulted hall.

Painting Frescoes

A buon fresco, or a wet or true fresco, starts with an application of wet plaster onto a wall. The wet plaster is then painted with tempera paint, made with egg yolk and pigment. This method  enables the paint to soak into the plaster, rather than just painting it and letting it dry on top of the wall. This makes the work durable, but speed is important.

Giornata, in Italian is an art term meaning “a day’s work”. When creating a buon fresco, an artist must complete it in a day. When it dries the paint changes color, and it is impossible to remix the paint to match exactly.

SUB-IMAGE of Church Interior 

The figures in Giotto’s frescoes are painted in sculpturesque style. They are weighty, full-bodied figures, with a convincing spatial depth. The bodies are rounded and naturally make shadows through modeling.

The figures also exhibit a foreshortening, by turning parallel to the picture plane and receding back.  The composition is simple using a shallow stage.

Blue paint is used on the ceiling and in every panel to create visual unity. It is doted with gold stars, as if the viewer is looking into Heaven.

Why was the Chapel Built?

Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel was built for Enrico Scrovegni, from a prominent banking family. He wanted to atone for his sins of charging interest on a loan or the act of usury. Dante, in his novel, Divine Comedy even singles out the Scrovegni family for this sin.

It was named Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, because it was right by an old Roman area, which was part of the Scrovegni estate.  This kind of art was known as good work to help the patron earn his way into  heaven.  Enrico Scrovegni himself appears in the Last Judgement fresco on the side of the blessed.

The chapel was intended for the private use of the Scrovegni family. It was a sign of great wealth to be able to build such a place.

Frescos Inside the Church

There are three registers of paintings, in reference to the Trinity.

• Top level: life of Mary starts with her parents Joachim and Anna.
• Middle level: Life of Jesus (Nativity, Presentation at the Temple, Flight to Egypt)
• Lower level (closest to churchgoers): Passion of Christ (return to Jerusalem à Resurrection)

The altar wall:

• Annunciation at the entrance
• Last Judgment at the exit

SUB-IMAGE (Lamentation)

Lamentation is the scene when Christ has been taken down from the cross, with followers around him mourning him. It is a group scene of the event, unlike the Pieta, which was just Mary and Christ. A range of emotions are displayed: sadness, resignation, outbursts, and despair.

Here, Mary holds Christ in a manner similar to other Mary and Christ Child scenes or Nativity scenes. She raises her right knee to prop Christ up. She puts her arm around him and leans towards him.

The diagonal cliff formation points the eye to the main action placed in the lower-left hand corner. Christ is no longer center, no longer heraldic, no longer hierarchical. This is a departure from Medieval tradition.

Mary Magdalene sits at Christ’s feet, and her long, red curly hair, references how she had earlier cleaned Christ’s feet, with oil and her hair. John the Evangelist stands behind her. He is the youngest disciple and always depicted beardless.

The angels are in grief, pulling on their hair. While the figures at the back encircle the action. They do not provide information to the narrative but are a visual to the entrance of the painting.

What is Typology?

Typology is the study and interpretation of stories and symbols in the Bible, especially the relationship between  the Old and New Testaments. Here is how this is used in Lamentation.

The land is baren except for a single dead tree. This is the Tree of Life, which withered at the fall of Adam.  Christ is often thought of as the second Adam. This also gives reference to Winter and Christ’s death, before Spring and the eventual resolution.

In the quatrefoil to the left, Jonah is being swallowed by a whale, from the Old Testament story.  Jonah is often seen as a typological precursor to Christ.  He suffered a “death” in the belly of the whale for three days. Then he was spit out. This was seen as a resurrection.

About the Artist

Giotto di Bondone (1276- 1377) is considered the first artist of the Renaissance because he departs from the Gothic style and begins to place three-dimensional solid figures in a real and logical space. Art historians speculate that he was trained by Florentine painter, Cimabue, because their styles were so similar.

Born just outside of Florence, he would paint chapels in not only Florence, but Assisi, Rome, Padua, and Naples. He is regarded as the most important Italian painter in the 14^th century.