Small children love to sit on their mother’s lap. In this painting, we see a mother seated on an elaborate golden throne. Her child is seated on her lap. Winged figures, called angels, surround them. Saints line up at the bottom of the picture. When Cimabue created this picture, he was following a 600-year tradition of showing Jesus as a child on his mother’s lap. Cimabue followed many traditions when he made this altarpiece, which include the halos around the heads of the figures and centering the scene on a very fancy throne. Cimabue did something new too. He tilted the heads of the mother and the angels. This gave the figures a more natural appearance. People were amazed that by tipping the head, the Madonna looked like a caring, genuine mother. Artists quickly saw that they might do other things to make a stiff figure look more lifelike. We could say that the realism of the Renaissance began with the simple tilt of a head. How many angels are in the picture? Has Cimabue chosen a natural setting for the child and his mother? From what you know about their lives, did they ever sit on a throne? Instead of drawing lines on real gold, craftsmen stamped into the gold surface by pounding little indentions into the gold. Can you see holes that suggest the outline of the mother’s halo? Thin sheets of gold, called gold leaf, andblocks of coloredmineral called indigo were used to create this masterpiece by Cimabue. Can you point to where indigo blue pigment was used in the painting? Can you point to areas where gold was glued to the painting? MadonnaEnthroned,withSaintsandAngels, c.1280 by Cimabue
10
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog