Madonna of Borgo San Lorenzo

Date

c. 1290

Description

Creator of the image: Giotto di Bondone
Date of the image creation: c. 1290
Medium of the image: Tempera and gold on wood
Person depicted: Mary, mother of Jesus

Attributed to the Italian master Giotto (c1266–1337), this painting is one of his oldest surviving works, painted when he was about 25-years-old. It is a fragment of a larger artwork — a Majesty — a tradition depicting a person, typically the Madonna with Child, surrounded by angels and saints. The original artwork had been heavily damaged with the remaining fragment significantly darkened by centuries of dirt, much of which was removed during a restoration in the 1980s. The artwork is currently in Pieve di San Lorenzo.

The Madonna sits with her child — largely lost to damage to the artwork — on her knee. In a subtle but tender display of family intimacy, the baby Jesus holds his mothers finger with his small right hand and touches her face with his left. The portrait gives a sense of volume and space, a corporeality not typical of the era. Significantly, the Madonna is lit by a single source of light, with a coherent and realistic play of shadow and light. This serves to give the painting an unprecedented depth. Staring out from this space, the Madonna looks outward, her expressive eyes conveying an undeniable intentionality.

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