Reimagine

Last summer, I went to Florence, Italy. While I was there, I toured the Uffizi Gallery. If you ever get a chance to visit Florence, I would highly recommend putting it at the top of your list of places to see. It is so rich and expansive in cultural history that you feel like you can touch the past. Below is my explanation of what I believe to be some of the most important pieces of art in the gallery. Enjoy!!

Long before the Florentine Renaissance, artists painted as a way to not only express themselves, but also as a way to value society. In the Middle Ages Christian influence was dominant, however with the emergence of humanism nudity became popular. As the Renaissance began, Florence burst with some of the greatest artistic talent and philosophers. The Medici Family, a Florence wealthy family, in the 1480’s, gathered artists and intellectuals around their powerful centre, trying to cultivate power. Some of these great works of art are seen today at the Uffizi Gallery. I was captivated by the portrayal of women as powerful and divine through spirituality and sensuality. Two pieces that I would like to examine that show this power are:

Madonna Enthroned with Child and Angels (1310), or “Madonna Ognissanti” by Giotto di Bondone in the late Middle Ages and The Birth of Venus (1486) by Sandro Botticelli of the Renaissance.

Art in Florence gives one a sense of proportion, perspective, and truly an enigmatic vision of love and philosophy through its rich history of paintings, sculptures, and churches. Sensuality can be as simple as, relaxing with a book at a Florentine coffee shop, taking time to look around and see the once grand facade. A facade that is larger-than-life. It jumps out at you like the character, Pinocchio, in the iconic children’s book. ‘Come in’ it beckons you. It beckons you to use your minds’ eye. To gain a taste of culture and a vision of the Renaissance. A period rich in history that gave artists a new perspective: each brush stroke redefining the once ambiguous image on wood to a spiritual and sensual image on canvas. A period that an artist was no longer a craftsperson, instead a philosopher creating new worlds.

PROTOREN. A world of interpretation.

In the Late Middle Ages, an innovative Florentine painter and architect, Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) began to draw humans from life, adding depth to relatable religious scenes, rather than using the more simplified representations of the past. His work inspired artists for centuries to come. This technique is seen in his painting Madonna Enthroned with Child and Angels (1310), or “Madonna Ognissanti” in Italian. It was history’s first portrayal of the Virgin Mary as a real woman with a physical presence.

Title: Madonna Enthroned with Child and Angels, 1310

Medium: Tempera on Panel

Periods: Gothic art, Italian Renaissance painting

Subject: Mary, Madonna and Child

“While Giotto stuck with the traditional golden background of the Byzantine Era, he created a new and enhanced style with a captivating culmination of vibrant foreground colors, spatial depth and perspective.”https://www.whatalifetours.com/blog/uffizi-gallery-artworks His use of the gold with his figures draws that connection, the feeling of authenticity as a human. Giotto, 1310, attempts to show the body under the robe, it no longer has the Byzantine oblong shapes. You feel the sensual art of connection. Sensuality, making Mary human, making her relatable. The Revelation that opens the horizon of creativity by using three colors, green, red, and white. Symbolic of the Italian flag. But yet very possibly symbolic of the three Christian virtues of faith, hope, and purity. Yes, Madonna Enthroned and with child! We can see it and admire it, but yet there is something deeper and further in his painting that goes beyond philosophical investigation. It’s powerful, relatable and yet sensual.

The Renaissance began the connection of what you see and what you feel, your ‘mind’s eye’. Interpreting love in your own context through commerce, literature, and leisure. Literature became as important as a knights sword and arms. Power was now thought of in ‘perception’ and control. Building a future, an Empire, was measured by controlling other people's perceptions, gaining power.

A period where power led to conflict and struggle. A power struggle that changed with the curse of the plaques. The infamous plaques truly showed the importance to ‘contain’ and sustain health, hygiene, and everyday life. The vast defenses for a well defended palace now went beyond a massive drawbar. Armoury and it’s striking sallet of metal, gilt and bronze, led to a new way of thinking. Think of the Renaissance as the Jewish Passover Feast of the unleavened, no yeast, no leaven. It occurred to break the cycle of sin, plaques. It gives sanctification, through praise and redemption.

This was a newness where mere images were symbols, a way to remind everyone to use reason over fear. The mystic of the Greek Gods, along with the three Christian virtues: faith, hope, and purity helped artists retranslate intellect by making life relatable through their art.

Relatability was sensuality.