Jamie Lyn Hairston
Mrs. Shramek
Art Appreciation
October 15, 2020
Virgin and Child Enthroned
Throughout time, art has grown and changed. This can be seen during the changes from
the Gothic period of art into the Early Renaissance. In this document I will discuss the work
Virgin and Child Enthroned by Glotto. This work is a Tempura on wood that can be found in the
Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. I will discuss the different themes, as well as my personal
opinion on the piece.
Virgin and Child Enthroned clearly shoes aspects of classical Gothic architecture brought
out in churches throughout Italy during the time period. The piece shoes a three-dimensional
Mary as Jesus sits on her lap on a throne surrounded by angels. This piece focuses on the
spirituality. The space that is used in this piece is considered to be realistic. The image is meant
to depict the world in which we live rather than a heavenly space we may wish to get to one day.
Giotto was a path maker for the style of the art that takes place in this image. He broke the
boundaries with this work as it is seen to be more realistic than the typical works of this time.
This approach took place during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. It was considered to be
revolutionary for its time. Giotto had many different forms during this time, but this one was
considered to be a monumental change of pace in his career (DeWitte, Ch 3.2).
This work was created in-between 1300-1305. It can be found in the Uffizi Museum in
Florence, Italy. It is a tempura on wood print with a gold background. It is thought that this
painting was hung over a side alter or partition when it was first created. By hanging the piece, it
created barrier between the secular and holy space of the church or building it was placed in.
Giotto was very well known when this piece was commissioned. It stands out because of its
naturalism as well as its traditional biblical subject. While still holding true to its religious
background it creates sense of ease and decoration to an otherwise empty stylistic time
period (Uffizi Galleries).
Many historians struggle with finding exact information on whether or not certain works were
created by Giotto, but for this particular work, this is not the case. There are many different
sources of information that state that this work was created by Giotto himself (Traveling in
Tuscany). Before Giotto, most art works were created in the Byzantine style. This was broken
