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Giotto di bondone biography

Collections Read Watch Play Experience. Contact Write To Us. Subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us. The Stefaneschi Triptych gathers two different stories.

Triptyque stefaneschi giotto biography wikipedia

Posted on 04 January, Artist Giotto di Bondone. Year The elaborate frame for the painting has since been lost but we know what it looked like That's right. The painting we see is depicted inside the painting itself and in the principal panel too. Note also how Giotto has made a painting so sacred that the Cardinal his alter ego uses a cloth in offering it to St.

Even the cardinal dare not touch Giotto's creation. These internal references to the painting on both sides make the painting the subject of the painting. No doubt that's why the saint on the far right holds his quill like a brush while his other arm, bent like a palette-arm, holds a book which though vertical is flat like a palette.

On the allegorical level, like many later figures of saints discussed on this site, he could even be "painting" himself. Paul , now taken off as a result of the condemnation to death which is suffered. These last are the two patron saints of Rome, and it is not rare to see them depicted together in the same work of art.

A figurative plan is simple, if we want to, in the choice of the characters depicted, and their setting. But, after all, thanks to the art and to the new style of Giotto the Stefaneschi Triptych can, to all effects and purposes, be considered a true masterpiece.

Triptyque stefaneschi giotto biography

For the first time there is a sense of depth, a piece of it. For the first time there is a sort of perspective, although it is related to some details. A work of art that, among other things, is the direct witness of the St Peter's Basilica, the ancient one, however, previous to its total reconstruction. A lot of elements and details for a trptych, another way to consider it a real masterpiece.

The back main central panel represents Christ enthroned flanked by angels with a kneeling Cardinal Stefaneschi at his right foot.

Triptyque stefaneschi giotto biography images

In the left panel we see the crucifixion of Peter, and on the right is the beheading of St. The predella depicts the Virgin and Child flanked by angels in the center and standing figures of the 12 apostles at the sides. The altarpiece stood before the apse of Old St. Peter's, which in the 14th century contained a mosaic of Christ enthroned between Saints.

Thus the iconography of the front of the painting paralleled the apse mosaic in form but did not repeat it in iconography. The central panel of the back of the altarpiece duplicated the apse mosaic for those who could not see it because they sat with their backs to it , while the side panels introduced narratives.

It was normal for double-sided altarpieces in this period to have an iconic image on the front and narrative images on the back.

Giotto represents the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul as taking place in recognizable locales, frequently visited by pilgrims to Rome. Peter's crucifixion is placed between the Meta Romuli a pyramid near the Vatican, destroyed in the 15th century and the Terebinthus Neronis a classical monument, likely a mausoleum, that no longer exists , while Paul's beheading is outside the city, near a round building that represents the church of San Paolo alle Tre Fontane , the site of the Saint's beheading South of Rome.

These scenes could also be found in the medieval frescoes on the walls of the nave of Old St. Peter's is unusual in both the double representation of the donor front and back and the specificity of the face and costume of Cardinal Stefaneschi.