Virgin And Child Enthroned Analysis

In early Renaissance art, artists had a tendency to use the same biblical stories or themes in their artwork. One in particular is the Virgin and Child Enthroned, it was painted by two different artists, thirty years apart from each other. In the year 1280 the first Virgin and Child Enthroned was painted by Cenni Di Pepi, also known as “Cimabue.” (M. Stokstad, 536) The second Virgin and Child Enthroned was painted by Giotto Di Bondone in 1305-1310. Both paintings have the same subject, virgin Mary with Jesus sitting on the throne. However, they both had a vast amount of differences in the style. Which is shown in the differences of how they painted human figures and the use of space in the painting.
The high alter piece of Virgin and Child Enthroned by Cimabue was painted for the church of Santa Trinita in Florence (M. Stokstad, 536). It was 12 feet tall, painted with tempera, along with gold thin lines throughout the painting that show great importance. The virgin Mary holds the child on a giant throne that is surrounded by angels. Mary, Jesus and the angels have golden painted light behind their heads which resembles their halos. This shows how sacred and holy these individuals are in the painting. Beneath Mary and Jesus in these arch ways are the four Hebrew prophets, they have expressions of concern and wonder. Cimabue paints Mary’s clothing is shown as draping over her by …show more content…
Both paintings have the same subject of Madonna with child but the style is what makes them diverse from one another. Some may say that between the two Giotto’s is better because of the realistic features and use of color in the painting. While others may say Cimabue, because of the size of the painting and how much detail went into the background and architecture. In the end, both paintings are astonishing in their own way, and admired for how uniquely different they are from one