Gentile da Fabriano, The Adoration of the Magi, 1423, tempera paint and gold on panel, 80
Epiphany, the church festival that celebrates the visit of the three Wise Men twelve days after the birth of Jesus, was for centuries the most important festival of the Christian year because it is the event that marks the revelation … Continue reading
Sandro Botticelli, Detail of Venus, c. 1490, Oil on canvas, Galleria Sabauda, Photo via Wikimedia Commons
If you are in Boston anytime before July 9th, make the time to see the exhibition, “Botticelli and the Search for the Divine” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Sandro Botticelli is today, as he was during his lifetime, … Continue reading
Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1482, tempera on panel, 80
The Italian painter Sandro Botticelli was a master of the Early Renaissance, which means that people saw a new naturalism in his art as well as the influence of Classical Antiquity in subject matter and style. Botticelli landed a great job working in Florence … Continue reading
© 2012 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Linear Perspective (noun) A technique for creating an illusion of three-dimensional space in two-dimensional artwork that was invented by Filippo Brunelleschi during the early Italian Renaissance. In a work of art that uses this system to create space, all straight … Continue reading
Maestà by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-1311, tempera on wood, 214 x 412 cm, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Maestà (noun) Italian for “majesty,” a maestà is an image type that depicts the Virgin and Child enthroned with angels surrounding them. Perhaps the best known maestà is by Duccio, who painted the subject for the Siena Cathedral. Duccio’s rendition of … Continue reading
Giotto, The Nativity, 1305-1306, fresco, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Padua, Italy, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Fresco (noun) Italian word for “fresh,” fresco is a technique of painting in which an artist mixes ground pigments with water and paints them onto wet plaster. Giotto’s beautifully expressive fresco paintings are actually part of the wall of the … Continue reading