The Thirteenth, Greatest of CenturiesWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
History
The Thirteenth, Greatest of Centuries
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Civilization, Medieval -- 13th century; Universities and colleges -- History
Two other Madonnas painted by him, one at Florence in the Academy, the
other in Paris in the Louvre, besides his great Mosaic in the apse of
the Cathedral at Pisa, serve to show with what prudence Cimabue
introduced naturalistic qualities into art, while always respecting
the tradition of the older art and preserving the solemn graces and
the majestic style of monumental painting. The old frescoes of the
upper church at Assisi which represent episodes in the life of St.
Francis have also been attributed to Cimabue, but evidently were done
by a number of artists probably under his direction. It is easy to
{142} see from them what an important role the Florentine artist
played in directing the gropings of his assistant artists.
After Cimabue the most important name at Florentine in the Thirteenth
Century is that of his friend, Gaddo Gaddi, whose years of life
correspond almost exactly with those of his great contemporary. His
famous Coronation of the Virgin at Santa Maria de Fiore in Florence
shows that he was greatly influenced by the new ideas that had come
into art. Greater than either of these well-known predecessors
however, was Giotto the friend of Dante, whose work is still
considered worthy of study by artists because of certain qualities in
which it never has been surpassed nor quite outgrown. From Giotto,
however, we shall turn aside for a moment to say something of the
development of art in other cities of Italy, for it must not be
thought that Florence was the only one to take up the new art methods
which developed so marvelously during the Thirteenth Century.
Even before the phenomenal rise of modern art in Florence, at Pisa, at
Lucca and especially at Siena, the new wind of the spirit was felt
blowing and some fine inspirations were realized in spite of hampering
difficulties of all kinds. The Madonna of Guido in the Church of St.
Dominic at Siena is the proof of his emancipation. Besides him
Ugolino, Segna and Duccio make up the Siena school and enable this
other Tuscan city to dispute even with Florence the priority of the
new influence in art. At Lucca Bonaventure Berlinghieri flourished and
there is a famous St. Francis by him only recently found, which proves
his right to a place among the great founders of modern art. Giunta of
Pisa was one of those called to Assisi to paint some of the frescoes
in the upper church. He is noted as having striven to make his figures
more exact and his colors more natural. He did much to help his
generation away from the conventional expressions of the preceding
time and he must for this reason be counted among the great original
geniuses in the history of art.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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