Giottino Pietà di san Remigio.
Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
Giottino, Pietà of Saint Remigius, circa 1360. Tempera on panel.
The panel in the Florentine church of Saint Remigius aroused the admiration of its beholders, not only when it first appeared but also throughout the centuries. Even today, visitors are attracted to it for its particular gracefulness. The painter, Giotto di Stefano, known as Giottino, is remembered by various sources as one of the Florentine masters of the fourteenth century, of whose work, unfortunately, very few examples remain. This painting in the Uffizi is his best-known achievement. Observe the scene. The characters hold different poses in order to create an impression of a three-dimensional space, in spite of the uniform gold background. Notice the painter’s ability to render through their expressions the different emotions of all those gathered in mourning around Jesus. The great cross at the centre divides the scene into two parts: on the right stand the holy figures with their halos and ancient clothing: the Virgin Mary, Saint John and Mary Magdalene; on the left, are a nun and a young girl praying, each protected by a Saint. What can we understand from this? The meaning of this scene was obvious to medieval people, but today we need to pay more attention on the painting. However, all the pieces fall together in the end: the nun and the young girl are the patrons of the painting, both protected by Saint Benedict, founder of the order to which the nun belonged, and by Saint Remigius, to whom the church where the panel would be housed was consecrated. Notice how far ahead we’ve come, compared to the previous panel: the patronesses are just slightly smaller than the sacred figures! In this case, too, we do not know the names of the two women; however, the blond young woman most certainly commissioned the artwork: she wears a sumptuous medieval dress in the latest fashion, with richly embroidered sleeves and neckline, enhanced with a beautiful gold and enamel belt. One would think all this luxury is perhaps a little excessive in this context. The artist was certainly not responsible for this. The patrons were the ones who dictated their own wishes, and began to emerge from the painted scenes.
The panel in the Florentine church of Saint Remigius aroused the admiration of its beholders, not only when it first appeared but also throughout the centuries. Even today, visitors are attracted to it for its particular gracefulness. The painter, Giotto di Stefano, known as Giottino, is remembered by various sources as one of the Florentine masters of the fourteenth century, of whose work, unfortunately, very few examples remain. This painting in the Uffizi is his best-known achievement. Observe the scene. The characters hold different poses in order to create an impression of a three-dimensional space, in spite of the uniform gold background. Notice the painter’s ability to render through their expressions the different emotions of all those gathered in mourning around Jesus. The great cross at the centre divides the scene into two parts: on the right stand the holy figures with their halos and ancient clothing: the Virgin Mary, Saint John and Mary Magdalene; on the left, are a nun and a young girl praying, each protected by a Saint. What can we understand from this? The meaning of this scene was obvious to medieval people, but today we need to pay more attention on the painting. However, all the pieces fall together in the end: the nun and the young girl are the patrons of the painting, both protected by Saint Benedict, founder of the order to which the nun belonged, and by Saint Remigius, to whom the church where the panel would be housed was consecrated. Notice how far ahead we’ve come, compared to the previous panel: the patronesses are just slightly smaller than the sacred figures! In this case, too, we do not know the names of the two women; however, the blond young woman most certainly commissioned the artwork: she wears a sumptuous medieval dress in the latest fashion, with richly embroidered sleeves and neckline, enhanced with a beautiful gold and enamel belt. One would think all this luxury is perhaps a little excessive in this context. The artist was certainly not responsible for this. The patrons were the ones who dictated their own wishes, and began to emerge from the painted scenes.
Download the free izi.TRAVEL app
Create your own audio tours!
Use of the system and the mobile guide app is free
