Renaissance Madonna and Child Triptych - Essay Example

Renaissance Madonna and Child Triptych Sometime around 1343, an artist d Lippo Vanni put the finishing touches on an elaborate triptych he was creating at his studio in Italy. He had no way of knowing that bubonic plague was about to sweep through Northern Europe or that the art world was about to be revolutionized by the masters of the Renaissance. There was no way for him to know because the curiosity into the sciences and the knowledge of the ancients that finally broke the restrictions of the church was only brought forward by the fear of those who survived the deadly first wave of Black Death from 1346-1348 (The Bubonic Plague, 2011). Instead, it is thought he painted the 80 1/4 x 102 1/2 x 6 cm triptych now referred to as Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donors and Saints Dominic and Elizabeth of Hungary to honor a visit from Queen Elizabeth of Hungary that occurred in that year. According to the Lowe Art Museum where the painting is a part of the permanent Renaissance and Baroque art collection, the Queen hoped to have her son Andreas crowned as King of Naples, Sicily and Jerusalem and the two adoring figures at the Madonna's feet are intended to represent this other noble mother and son (2009). There are many aspects of this painting that mark it as a particularly well-done piece of Baroque artwork including its execution, the obvious subject matter and its more political undertones and eastern influence. A triptych is a three-piece stand-alone panel that was a common altarpiece in the Baroque period created with some specific common techniques. They varied in size and particular shape, but most had a roughly rectangular base and square or arched tops. The two side panels were almost always smaller than the center panel. They were made like this so that they could be easily folded up and transported with the priest when he went to preach in the country. As we learned in class, during this time in history, it was the church that preserved all of the arts and literature. As a result, they were the ones who usually commissioned the art and allowed the art to be seen. In technical elements, the painting is done with tempera on wood panels, which was a common way of working. Tempera is an egg-yolk-based paint that dries quickly and hardens into a very tough surface that made it ideal for traveling by bumpy wagons. Many of the triptychs on display in museums are made with this medium for this reason. To get the colors to work just right, Baroque painters would use a green earth pigment called Terre Verde for the under-painting and red sizing behind the gold leaf of the background (class notes). Gold leaf was always used in images of a religious nature because it symbolized the importance and nobility and purity of the figures. If you look closely, these attributes of green under-painting, red sizing and heavy use of gold leaf in the background are evident in this triptych as well as many other similar works such as Cimabue's Madonna Enthroned and Giotto's Madonna Enthroned that we saw in class. Another common feature of Baroque art is the focus on brushwork. According to my class notes, the brushwork used during this period was very meticulous. Every little line was carefully positioned to create a sense that the image just appeared on the panel. This makes a lot of sense, actually, considering they were working with gold leaf. Gold is very reflective and the smallest crease would cause reflections in one direction or another. By taking a perfectionist approach to the work, the artist could create the illusion of halos or other features within the gold leaf that would only appear when the light came from just the right angle. This would have added to the magic of the image for the benefit of the less-educated public. The general subject matter of Vanni's triptych is also very similar to the artwork of other Baroque artists working in this time period. In this painting as well as in Cimabue's painting and Giotto's painting, the Madonna is sitting in the center panel with the baby Jesus propped on her left knee, which places him on the right side of any viewers of the piece. Both mother and child are depicted with halos worked into the gold foil in all three of these images. These figures are also always surrounded by some combination of saints, angels or worshippers. In this painting, there are only six figures spread through the three panels. Mary is on the center panel with Jesus in her lap. On each of the side panels is a saint - St. Dominic on Mary's right (to the left hand side of the viewer) and St. Elizabeth on Mary's left (to the right hand side of the viewer). This is also the side of the painting that both Mary and Jesus are facing. The other two figures are the tiny figures that are thought to represent Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and Prince Andreas. Even though they are standing, the tallest figure only comes up to the Madonna's knee. This is another common characteristic of Baroque art. The Divine figures such as Jesus and Mary painted bigger than the saints and the saints are painted bigger than the regular people, even mortal nobility. This was their way of showing the proper structure of relative importance among the various characters. There was a consistent expected color scheme for the Divinities' clothing it seems. The Madonna is always dressed in a blue hood with long sleeves and a red or white under-dress. The blue and white was meant to symbolize purity while the red was a sign of royalty. Jesus is always seen in red. It is interesting to see that in all three images - this one and those we looked at in class - the Madonna is seated so that her back is slightly turned to the left. This makes her face more toward the right side (as seen by the viewer). Jesus is usually seen sitting peacefully in his mother's lap facing more toward his audience. In this and other ways, Vanni differs from some of these traditional characteristics. One of the unique differences in Vanni's work is the absence of crowds anywhere within the image. Other artwork that we've seen shows the Madonna's throne surrounded by a crowd but Vanni's work has her sitting almost alone - as if she is giving a private audience to the queen and her son, who is already dressed in the ceremonial robes of a crown prince. This concept of Divine Preference goes against the symbol of humility shown in the very tiny size of these two figures. Again, Vanni differs somewhat from the normal tradition by making his saints almost as big as the Madonna while the mortal queen and her son are made really small, only reaching the height of the Madonna's knee. When facing the question of whether the queen is supposed to be seen as humble because of her tiny size or arrogant because of her portrayal as having a private audience, I have to decide that she's arrogant because she has already assumed that her son will be crowned, which is why she's dressed him in ceremonial robes. Another difference in this painting from the others is that Jesus isn't just peacefully sitting in his mother's lap. In this image, he's turned around so that he is facing Saint Elizabeth (not surprisingly a saint that shares the queen's name). This saint is offering the Divinities an apron-full of roses. At this time, red roses symbolized the blood of Christian martyrs, but St. Elizabeth is only associated with her own miraculous birth story - this one that she was suddenly pregnant even well after she had passed child-bearing years. This also makes Mary and Jesus seem like they're rejecting Saint Dominic who is offering lilies. Lilies are often seen as a symbol of France (Andreas was from the French house of Anjou - Lowe Art Museum, 2009) and Saint Dominic was the founder of the Dominican Order and so was most known as a reformer. These undertones of the image make it seem more as if the artist was strongly criticizing the queen for her purpose. He seems to be calling her arrogant and encouraging his viewers to turn against her (someone hoping for change offering a symbol of France) by showing Mary and Jesus turning their back on their representative toward something unfamiliar and out of sync with her story. The political messages of the image are very different from the other images we've studied. Although other images included representations of political or historic figures in the worshippers seen in the crowds in other paintings, this one is very blatant about its political connections. Although the eastern influence is seen in the intricate scrollwork of the top portion of the panels, I also find myself questioning why it was used in this way. I had to try very hard to see this as just ornamental and intended to represent palatial elegance. Most of the time, I saw this detail as flame-like, as if there was still another message to the viewer to stand against the queen's cause. I think this is a significant difference in the other works because it shows that not all art created during this period was devoted exclusively to religious subjects or even mostly to religious subjects. Although the painting appears to depict a religious topic in a very traditional way - including using the 'correct' color symbols and figure positioning - it has a very non-religious message. The artist clearly had to work within the boundaries of artistic expectations for the time, but he demonstrates that not all artists were as devoted to the church as they were to their art. Maybe the entrance to the Renaissance wasn't entirely due to the fear created by the Black Plague after all. Maybe it was also spurred on by the intellectual curiosity and visual representation of artists and others working within the boundaries of their Baroque patrons - the church and royalty - to express ideas of protest and personal opinion. Works Cited "The Bubonic Plague." eSsortment. Demand Media Studios, 2011. http://www.essortment.com/bubonic-plague-17669.html Lowe Art Museum. Permanent Collections: Renaissance and Baroque Art. (2009). Read More