1. Cimabue Virgin and Child Enthroned 2. Giotto Virgin and Child Enthroned The Giotto and Cimabue are obviously different versions of the Virgin and Child Enthroned. But because they are different versions they have their differences.
When i first look at the Cimabue piece the first thing i focus my eyes on is the sweet, tender, loving face the Virgin has on her warm yellow face. Her eyes are looking outward towards the audience which i feel helps you feel like you are part of the enthroning. Giotto depicted the Virgins face with a little bit more of a stern look to it. Its not as soft as the one in Giotto.Also the colors are much more cooler so when i look at Giotto's piece i look at the creamy colors like her shirt first instead of her face. The Cimabue piece has angels who all look pretty identical to each other and also look very similar to the virgins face.
They all have a soft look and are looking out towards the audience and at the virgin and child unlike the Giotto painting where the angels are all focusing on the virgin and the child on her lap. The angels in Giotto's piece are really praising the child and virgin and have this look of awe and amazement on their face while the two on the front hold crowns in their hands.The angels are stacked up on one another in Cimabue piece while in Giotto is stacked up but is a bit more spread out. Cimabue's painting is very flat compared to Giotto's because Giotto actually added light or white paint in order to make body parts, drapes and shades pop and look more realistic.
Cimabue's users firm outlines to try to get the feel of realism in his painting which at the time did look realistic till Giotto used lighting to active realistic look. The painting are both very symmetrical for the exemption of the virgin and the cild in both pieces.In the Cimabue piece all the angels have crowns and are four in each side. Also at the bottom of the piece he has four men holding scripts which are doing similar gestures. As for Giotto he doesn't have them stacked up but he does have six angels on each side, three wearing crowns and three without.
At the bottom he has two more angels looking up instead of the four men. Giotto might of thought that these angels were more important for the virgin than the men holding scripts.1. Rogier Van der Weyden Deposition 2.
Pontormo Entombment The Weyden and Pontormo paintings both are trying to depict a similar story in different styles. In Weyden's piece the first thing you notice different from the Pontormo is the colors. In Weyden's piece the colors pop right out you since he used harsh bright colors for their clothing. Unlike Pontormo where he used very soft angelic colors like the pink and light blue and peachy colors.
My eyes are attracted to the Weyden more than Pontormo even if its older because it looks so much more realistic than Pontormo. The drapery in Weyden's piece is very realistic as it falls on the bodies of each human standing or falling.The shadows of the drape make them look real as if you can pick them up directly from the painting. In Pontormo the drapery is more of a flowing feel to it. You can tell where it sits but it isn't as realistic and looks as if they were angels helping God up.
In the Weyden piece the emotions are very upfront. They seem very upset at the sight of God sacrifice. There is a women who looks as she has fainted and two people caught her ash she fell. Her arm is almost in the same angle as God's arm is as they bring him down.This might have been purposely done to somehow symbolize that they are related. Wedyen has done a great job capturing the realistic look to everyone's skin tone and their shadows.
You can see where and how their muscular structure is like the woman's neck and chest who is arched down on the right hand side. Also you can see the thinness on God's body and the piercings where they nailed him to the cross for the crucifixion. Unlike Weyden, Pontormo decided to not show the wounds on God's body to make it less gruesome and keep the heavenly look to the painting.Also, Pontormo has the figures facing in every direction unlike Weyden who has a face front view for everyone. Pontormo figures are thicker than the figures in Weyden's painting.
I think that is why i see it as an angelic painting since most current painting of angels are chubby baby angels. At the bottom left of the Weyden piece there is a human skull under the male in red. This can possibly symbolize that the room they were in was were theory tortured and sacrificed people. it also gives it a evil look to the painting just like the cross who God was once nailed too.
