File:Giotto (1905) (14776075172).jpg

Identifier: giotto00dese (find matches)
Title: Giotto
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: De Selincourt, Basil, 1876-
Subjects: Giotto, 1266?-1337
Publisher: London : Duckworth and Co. New York, C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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of the enthroned Virgin and child. A narrow fore-ground of deep green, suggesting a floor of grass, sup-ports the solemn row. The background of chased goldis divided into compartments, which each receive onefigure. Central the Madonna—in a robe of deep indigo,related to that of Christ in the main subject above her—sits upon a low throne of greenish-grey, furnishedwith red cushions, and a red platform for the feet. Thechild is in pale orange. The angels on either side ofher have drapery of a light rosy red, and dove-colouredwings. The apostles show an inner as well as an outergarment, and all along the row the subtlest variety andmost delicate balance of colour are maintained. Redand green, in various shades and various qualities, areemployed throughout, but the tints are almost all inde-scribable, and each shows melting transformations inthe passage from li^ht to shadow, to which words couldno more do justice than to a melody. But naturally it is not only in the colouring that the
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■^ m J i—mO < <i GIOTTOS WORK IN ROME 85 majestic dignity of these predella pieces, any more thanthat of the Ciborium as a whole, consists. Their subor-dinate position has not hindered the realisation of agrand conception. Giotto seems to have felt that thegeneral character of the work called for insistence chieflyupon those qualities in the Virgin which remove herfrom, rather than unite her with, the human mother.She has a brooding solemnity, which she shares with theangels and apostles about her, and has caught some-thing of the awful sternness of the Christ above. Per-haps it is with deliberate desire to relieve the tensity ofreligious emotion, that Giotto gives complete humanityto the child. He is just the little bunch that babiesgenerally are, and like a true baby crams his fingersinto his mouth. But the angels on either side of thethrone quickly recall the mind from this homely touch.They are among the most stately of Giottos creations,their gravity finding its culmina

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