Beautiful Italian Art Reflected in Painting in the Middle Ages

It is a known fact that Italy was one of the prominent places, where art and culture flourished during the medieval period. Medieval costumes, sculptures and paintings, gained huge popularity across Europe. The renaissance period also started first in Italy and then spread throughout the continent. But, in the middle ages also, a great development was witnessed in the painting, in this country.

There were a number of factors behind the progress of painting in Italy. The western border of vast Byzantine Empire was occupied by Italy until the late eleventh century. Italy maintained a strong connection though Byzantium via trade, even after this area was under Norman rule in around 1071. This connection was best expressed in the art of that era, which was the early period of the middle ages. Huge popularity was gained by illustrated Bibles and Exultet Rolls in 1050. The liturgical scrolls contained the texts for the celebration of Easter. Such text was produced in the Benevento region of southern Italy. Early Christian painting cycle from the churches of Rome influenced miniature illustrations in the Bibles, which were related to the contemporary monumental Roman wall paintings.

In 1204, Constantinople was sacked by Christian armies of the Fourth Crusade. So, the precious objects from Byzantium reached Italy and impacted the art produced in the nation. The brightly colored gold-ground panels were proliferated during the 13th century. “Madonna and Child” by Berlinghiero is one of the best examples in this regard. He was one of the foremost painters of that era working in the Tuscan City of Lucca. Madonna’s gestures towards Christ are shown as a miniature adult, who puts on the medieval clothing like philosophers.

In the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, three great masters appeared in Italy, who gave their contribution in changing the course of painting. These great masters were Florentine Giotto di Bondone, Roman Pietro Cavallini and Sienese Duccio di Buoninsegna. The figures of Giotto seem to be volumetric rather than linear. The emotions which they express seem to be different. They are convincingly human instead of being stylized. A new type of pictorial paces was created by him with a measurable depth. On the other hand, a lyrical expressiveness and spiritual gravity to the formalized Italo-Byzantine tradition were brought by Duccio, who was a founder of the Sienese school of painting. He made a small devotional panel of the Madonna and Child. The gap was bridged by Duccio between the real world of the viewer and the spiritual world of the figures. He did so by means of illusionistic parapet. It was among first of its kind in Western painting. Some exceptional artists, who painted during this period, include Maso di Banco, Ambrogio, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Taddeo Gaddi. Refinement and elegance were added to the spare form of Giotto’s art by Simone Martini.

Besides the above mentioned ones, Fresco painting and panel painting were two distinct types of Italian styles.