Monks and nuns removed candle soot from this painting using urine and lye, but its gold background never tarnished.
Late Gothic art: c. 1200-1400
Some distortions are deliberate. This pulpit has its critics, but it coheres in real life—just not in photos.
Giovanni Pisano, Pisa Pulpit
Small torso? Huge shins? If you think you could paint Mary better, remember that artistic goals change over time.
Distorting the Madonna in Medieval art
Whether church decoration or public works, the art of this wealthy city blended devotional piety and civic pride.
Siena in the Late Gothic, an introduction
Like a comic without words, these frescoes tell the story of Christ and his parents—and give their patron a cameo.
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel
Dante’s vision of Hell inspired generations of artists—and his words still feed imaginations today.
Dante’s Divine Comedy in Late Medieval and ...
Boom times in Florence saw a rise in art commissions, and the Italo-Byzantine style yielded to Giotto’s naturalism.
Florence in the Late Gothic period, an ...
Rats spread plague throughout the streets of Europe. Society turned upside down—but the Renaissance lay ahead.
The Black Death
Artists in Late Gothic Italy increasingly sought to rationalize space, measure the world, and master the figure.
Introduction to Late Gothic art
From carpenters and workshop assistants to apothecaries and goldsmiths, it took a village to make a panel painting.
Gold-ground panel painting
This huge panel hints at the coming Renaissance, but the figures remain weightless and their features, elongated.
Cimabue, Santa Trinita Madonna and Child Enthroned
Only decades apart—but what a difference. Next to Giotto’s substantial Virgin, Cimabue’s appears flat yet elegant.
Cimabue and Giotto compared
Take a peek into a 14th-century household! This painting transplants a biblical story into a busy Sienese bedroom.
Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin
Monumental figures like these apostles hadn’t been seen since ancient Rome. What sensitivity to rhythm and color!
Pietro Cavallini, The Last Judgment
Christ sits as Judge, separating the blessed from the damned. In Hell, money lenders—like Scrovegni—appear hanged.
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 4 of ...
In this powerful scene, Mary cradles the dead Christ. A simple landscape and mourning crowd direct us to her grief.
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 3 of ...
With their emotion, gestures, mass, and volume, Giotto’s people seem real—and time moves with them.
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 2 of ...
Painting covers every inch of this chapel, from the spiraling narrative cycle to the star-studded blue sky.
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 1 of ...
Things get ugly when tyrants take over! But with peace, fortitude, and prudence, Siena prospers—an urban paradise.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory and Effects of Good ...
Many, many panels made up this massive altarpiece. Dedicated to Mary, it stood in the crossing of Siena Cathedral.