Giotto, Majesty of All Saints

Description

The Madonna and Child have a solid volume, well developed in plasticity, with a sharp contrast between shadows and highlights, much more than in the nearby work by Cimabue (the Majesty of the Holy Trinity) about ten years earlier. The earthly weight of the figures is highlighted by the frailty of the architectural structures of the throne which is in French Gothic style with decorations of geometric taste at the base. The colors are refined, such as the mother-of-pearl white of the dress, the lapis lazuli blue of the mantle, the intense red of the lining. Maria is a matron who, in a completely original way, almost hints at a smile, barely opening her lips and showing her white teeth from a.The figures are framed by a refined cusped throne, created according to an intuitive but effective perspective, which accentuates the spatial depth, despite the gold background. It is inspired by Cimabue, but also bears an extraordinary resemblance to that of Justice in the Scrovegni Chapel. The arrangement of the two saints in the last row, visible only through the fretwork of the throne, which resembles a closed triptych or a ciborium adorned with marble incrustations, is also very original. All the angels' gaze converges towards the center of the painting, with the innovative profile representation of some of them, a position reserved only for sinister figures (Judas, the devils...) in Byzantine art. They hold gifts for the Madonna: a crown, a precious casket and vases with lilies (symbols of purity) and roses (Marian flower): the vases are among the first examples in the Middle Ages of "still life", already experimented by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel.