Vrikshadhirudhakam, Kalinga, Konarak, Orissa, Mid-12th century. Stone. Private Collection.
96. Anonymous, Torso of Apsara, Kiradu, Rajasthan, 11th century. Stone. Sardar Museum, Jodhpur (India).
97. Anonymous, Linga within a Ring, 11th century. Silver, h: 27.5 cm.
98. Anonymous, Erotic Posture, Vishvanath Temple, Upper Band of the North Wall, c. 950. Sandstone. Khajuraho (India).
99. Gislebertus, Eve’s Temptation (Lintel from the North Portal of the Saint-Lazare Cathedral, Autun), c. 1130. Limestone, 72 × 131 cm. Musée Rolin, Autun (France).
100. Nino Pisano, La Madonna del Latte, c. 1345. Polychrome marble, h: 91 cm. Museo Nazionale de San Matteo, Pisa (Italy).
101. Giotto (Giotto di Bondone), Hell (detail from Last Judgment), 1304–1306. Fresco, 1000 × 840 cm. Capella degli Scrovegni, Padua (Italy).
GIOTTO (Giotto di Bondone)
(Vespignano, 1267 – Florence, 1337)
His full name was Ambrogiotto di Bondone, but he is known today, as he was in his own time, by the contraction, Giotto, a word which has come to stand for almost all the great things that art has accomplished. In his own day Giotto’s fame as a painter was supreme; he had numerous followers, and these Giotteschi, as they were styled, perpetuated his methods for nearly a hundred years. In 1334, he designed the beautiful Campanile (bell tower), which stands beside the cathedral in Florence, and represents a perfect union of strength and elegance, and was partly erected in his lifetime. Moreover, the sculptured reliefs which decorate its lower part were all from his designs, though he lived to execute only two of them. Inspired by French Gothic sculpture, he abandoned the stiff presentations of the subjects as in Byzantine styles and advanced art towards more realistic presentation of contemporary figures and scenes so as to be more narrative. His breakthrough influenced subsequent development in Italian art. His significant departure from past presentations of the Maestà, starting around 1308 (in Madonna di Ognissanti), brought to it his knowledge of architecture and its perspectives. However, the disproportion of subjects in the presentation is a device intended to rank the subjects by their importance, as was done in Byzantine icons.
Thus, architect, sculptor, painter, friend of Dante and of other great men of his day, Giotto was the worthy forerunner of that galaxy of brilliant men who populated the later days of the Italian Renaissance.
102. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript. Middle Ages.
103. Memmo di Filippuccio, The Bedroom, c. 1318. Museo Civico, San Gimignano (Italy).
104. Anonymous, The King Wenceslas and the Bathers (miniature from the Bulle d’Or of the Emperor Charles IV), 1400. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (Austria).
105. Anonymous, Adam and Eve and Sodomites, from the Bible moralisée, 13th-14th century. Manuscript. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (Austria).
106. Anonymous, Illuminated Manuscript. Middle Ages.
107. Guyart des Moulins, The Historical Bible, volume one, illustration to the Book of Daniel (Susanna and the Elders in the Garden), Paris, Third quarter of the 14th century. Parchment, 45.5 × 31.5 cm.
108. Anonymous, Young Nun Gathering Penises. Illuminated Manuscript.
109. Bartholomeus Anglicus, Book of the Properties of Things (De proprietatibus rerum), Paris, c. 1400. Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel (Germany).
110. Arnolfo di Cambio, Sickman at the Fountain, sculpture fragment. Marble. Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia (Italy).
111. Anonymous, Adam (from the south-side of the Notre-Dame Transept, Paris), c. 1260. Polychrome stone, h: 200 cm. Musée national du Moyen Age, Thermes de Cluny, Paris (France).
This statue of Adam is one of the rare nudes of medieval art. Larger than life-size, this statue originally decorated the exterior of Notre-Dame in Paris. Paired with Eve, it was part of a Last Judgment scene. The nudity of the figure recalls classical prototypes, and the s-shaped pose and sinuous body of Adam owes a particular debt to fourth-century B. C. E. sculptors such as Praxiteles and Lysippos. The soft, unmuscled body, however, does not reflect the classical ideal. Most of the human sculpture of the Middle Ages was clothed in long robes, and a sculptor would have had little opportunity to study the nude. Despite the lack of precedent, however, the sculptor of this piece has captured the human body in detail, showing the anatomy below the surface, especially on the figure’s torso.
112. Filippo Calendario, The Original Sin, 1340–1355. Marble. Palazzo ducale di Venezia, Venice (Italy).
113. Donatello (Donato di Niccolo Bardi), David, c. 1440–1443. Bronze, h: 158 cm. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence (Italy).
Donatello’s David stands, victorious, over the head of the dead giant. He holds the large sword of the giant and wears a hat and boots. The statue caused a small scandal when it was first displayed because of the nudity of the figure. While nudity was not unknown in sculpture, it seems gratuitous here, not required by the subject, as it would be in a portrayal of Adam, for example. David’s nudity is also accentuated by his hat and boots, which seem incongruous in the absence of other clothing. The statue is also notable in being cast of bronze, showing the advance in that technology. While the contrapposto stance is derived from classical models, the figure is more feminine looking than male sculptures from the Greek or Roman worlds.
DONATELLO (Donato di Niccolo Bardi)
(Florence, c. 1386–1466)
Donatello, an Italian sculptor, was born in Florence, and received his initial training in a goldsmith’s workshop; he worked for a short time in Ghiberti’s studio. Too young to enter the competition for the baptistery gates in 1402, the young Donatello accompanied Brunelleschi when, in disappointment, he left Florence and went to Rome to study the remains of classical art. During this period Brunelleschi undertook his measurements of the Pantheon dome, which enabled him to construct the noble cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, while Donatello acquired his knowledge of classic forms and ornamentation. The two masters, each in his own
