Lesson 4
Lamentation of Christ by Giotto
Much of the art from Europe during the Gothic period was made for Christian churches. Artists were commissioned to paint stories centering on the life of Christ. Giotto’s painting depicts the moment when Christ was taken off the cross. Those who love him mourn his tragic death. Giotto used gold halos (circles around the heads) to show those who were filled with God’s light. Artists used the types of materials that the patron, the person paying for the job, requested. Even rarer and more expensive than gold was the blue color used lavishly in all of Giotto’s works. This was a magnifi cent sight for those entering the dark church interior lit by candles. The gold reflected the flickering candlelight and the blue seemed like a color sent from the heavens above.
How many people have halos?
Do the people look sad?
How many figures have wings and halos? Do these angels seem to feel sorrow too? How do their postures show their feelings
of deep sorrow?
Giotto, Lamentation of Christ , c. 1305, Photo Credit: Dover Publications Inc.
Artists before Giotto’s time painted people stiffly and without expression , but not Giotto. See the difference that gestures make. Look in a mirror. First, hold your body still so that you show no emotions. That is how they painted people. Next, make a face and move your body to show that you are sad. Then, make a face and bend your body to show that you are happy. That is how Giotto painted people. Remember Giotto for painting people that bend, move, and show real emotions.
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