03 — ARTWORK
Ognissanti Madonna (Madonna in Maestà)
- MEDIUM
- Tempera on wood, gold background, 325 x 204 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
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- FILE
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COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
The attribution of the large painting of the Madonna from the Florentine church of the Ognissanti (All Saints), now housed in the Uffizi Galleryan upper story, similar to a tribune, running along the side of a building and open on one side to the interior; in a church (basilica) above the side aisles, over the ambulatory (central-plan building) and also over the west end. The gallery was used to keep certain groups of worshippers apart (women, noblemen)., derives from a written notice from the early 15th century. The panelTerm in painting for a support of wood, metal, or other rigid substance, as distinct from canvas. Until the adoption of canvas in the 15th century nearly all the movable paintings of Europe were executed on wood, and even up to the beginning of the 17th century it is probable that as much painting was done on the one support as on the other. Painters who worked on a small scale often used copper panels (Elsheimer is a leading example), and in the colonial art of South America copper and tin and even lead and zinc were used. On a larger scale, slate has occasionally been used as a support, notably by Rubens for his altarpiece for Sta Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova) in Rome; the picture he originally painted was said to reflect the light unpleasantly and slate was used for the replacement to produce a more matt finish. For wood panels the Italian masters of the Renaissance preferred white poplar, while oak was the most common wood used in northern Europe. Many other types were used, however; analysis of the contents of art galleries has yielded a long list, including beech, cedar, chestnut, fir, larch, linden, mahogany, olive, and walnut. In the 20th century cedar, teak, and dark walnut are favourites, and modern painters have also used plywood, fibre-board, and other synthetic materials as supports., described as the Ognissanti Madonna after the church in which it was originally installed, has the same strength of representation as the frescoes at Padua, and is therefore dated by art historians as having being painted in the first decade of the l4th century.
From the moment we look at the wooden panel painted in temperaA method of painting in which the pigments are mixed with an emulsion of water and egg yolks or whole eggs (sometimes glue or milk). Tempera was widely used in Italian art in the 14th and 15th centuries, both for panel painting and fresco, then being replaced by oil paint. Tempera colors are bright and translucent, though because the paint dried very quickly there is little time to blend them, graduated tones being created by adding lighter or darker dots or lines of color to an area of dried paint. we are fascinated by the gleaming solemnity of the paintwork. A fine web of golden edgings on the robes, of halos, and of decorative elements blends the golden hue of the background with the representation as a whole. Both the delicate shades of violet and pink, the warm green and red, and the flesh colours of the figures thus take on a brilliant luster, which allows the panel to shine with incomparable splendour.
Giotto turns to a type of picture known as the Maestà - the Madonna surrounded by saints and angels - which is especially well-known because of the <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/d/duccio/maesta/maest_01.html')" href="/html/d/duccio/maesta/maest_01.html">Maestà by Duccio,</a> begun in 1308, the one-time altarpieceA picture or sculpture that stands on or is set up behind an altar. The term reredos is used for an ornamental screen or partition, not directly attached to the altar table but affixed to the wall behind it. A diptych is an altarpiece consisting of two panels, a triptych one of three panels, and a polyptych one of four or more panels. From the 14th to 16th century, the altarpiece was one of the most important commissions in European art; it was through the altarpiece that some of the most decisive developments in painting and sculpture came about. of the cathedralThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed. at Siena, and through the <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/s/simone/2maesta/maesta_s.html')" href="/html/s/simone/2maesta/maesta_s.html">great frescoWall painting technique in which pigments are applied to wet (fresh) plaster (intonaco). The pigments bind with the drying plaster to form a very durable image. Only a small area can be painted in a day, and these areas, drying to a slightly different tint, can in time be seen. Small amounts of retouching and detail work could be carried out on the dry plaster, a technique known as a secco fresco. in the Sienese Town Hall,</a> completed by Simone Martini in 1315. These two examples of mature Sienese art have a relatively wide format: the numerous saints kneel and stand in rows to the left and right of the Virgin's throne. There they could be said to lead a "life of their own" — some look into the centre of the picture, others look at one another, and yet others direct their gaze out of the picture. Giotto's panel, on the other hand, is vertical in format and thus approaches the size and proportions of an older type of portrayal of the Madonna. This aspect is made particularly clear in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where the Ognissanti Madonna is exhibited next to <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/d/duccio/ruccelai/3ruccela.html')" href="/html/d/duccio/ruccelai/3ruccela.html">Duccio's Rucellai Madonna</a> and the <a onclick="return OpenOther('/html/c/cimabue/madonna.html')" href="/html/c/cimabue/madonna.html">Madonna Santa Trinita by Cimabue,<//a> both of which were executed in the 1280s.
This representation of the Maestà, with its novel conception of the subject and its delicate style of painting, worked through with gold, numbers among the high points in Giotto's panel paintingPainting on wooden panels. Until the introduction of canvas in the 15th century, wooden panels were the standard support in painting.. Here, the natural portrayal and the solemnity of the mother and child are intensified in a special way. The clear perspectival composition, in which the clearly directed gaze of the surrounding figures is included, makes the Child's gesture of benediction appear as the focal point, both optically and as regards content.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r82b86ca7b29713,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Ognissanti Madonna (Madonna in Maestà) by GIOTTO di Bondone},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/giotto-di-bondone-rbbbd987e3570d4/ognissanti-madonna-madonna-in-maest-r82b86ca7b29713},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
