UNIT 2
Madonna with Child and Angels
Masaccio (1401 –1428) was the first great painter of the Early period of the Italian Renaissance. His frescoes are the earliest monuments of Humanism, and introduce a plasticity previously unseen in figure painting.
Despite his brief career, he had a profound influence on other artists. He was one of the first to use scientific perspective in his painting, employing techniques such as vanishing point in art for the first time. He also moved away from the Gothic style and elaborated ornamentation of artists like Gentile da Fabriano to a more natural mode that employed perspective for greater realism.
The Madonna with Child and Angels is one of his greatest masterpieces.
The painting is the central panel of a large, 19 piece winged altar executed for a chapel of the notary Giuliano di Colino in the church of Carmelite Church in Pisa. Ten other panels of the altarpiece are in various museums.
The painting contains 6 figures, the Madonna and child and 4 angels. The Madonna is the central figure and is larger than any of the others to signify her importance. The work is symmetrical. The painting is a step away from International Gothic in the sense that Masaccio has created a more realistic approach to the subject.
The faces are more realistic and not idealized. The baby Jesus is less of a small man and more child like. An attempt at creating depth has been attempted by Massacio's placement of the two background angels. Chiaroscuro is clearly visible as the light source is coming from the left of the painting. The Madonna's drapery is more linear and the folds are smaller and more realistic, shaping her body.
Masaccio has used mathematical perspective to create pictorial space; it can be seen on the orthogonal on the cornice of her throne. The vanishing point is at the child’s foot. The reasoning being that the work was originally located above Masaccio’s Adoration of the Magi. In the “Adoration” a man kisses Jesus' foot. Although the paintings are noticeably different (the subjects are clothed differently and on different chairs) Madonna is more or less in the same position in both works. This is designed to make us have the same attitude as the magus (the man which kisses Jesus' foot) when looking at the Madonna and Child. We are imagined to be kneeling in front of Mary, and could easily lean forward to kiss the foot of Jesus.
Masaccio has also used the overlapping of figures and objects to create pictorial space, like the two angels in the foreground overlapping the throne and the throne overlapping the two angels in the background. The Christ child sits in the Virgin's lap eating grapes from her hand. The grapes are a symbol of Christ’s blood - like the Red Wine of the Covenant - and this symbolizes Christ's awareness of his impending death. The Madonna looks sorrowfully at her child, as she also realizes his fate.