Comparison of Giotto and Duccio’s treatment of the Madonna and Child theme. Duccio di Buoninsegna and Giotto di Bondone both developed a personal artistic style in response to the new naturalistic aims of the 13th Century. These personal artistic styles are largely apparent in their separate treatments of the Madonna and Child theme. In the Rucellai Madonna Duccio explores his various influences, showing insight into the Italo-Byzantine traditions, as well as the Gothic style and the transferral of philosophical ideals to a more classical orientated view of the human form. Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna also displays this religious shift in humanistic emphasis, abandoning most of the Byzantine artistic conventions that Duccio continued to use throughout his career. Duccio’s Rucellai Madonna, 450cm by 290cm, was commissioned in 1285 and the name derives from the Rucellai Chapel of Santa Maria Novella. Some controversy surrounded …show more content…
Mary’s face is more organic, in keeping with Duccio’s rolling line and new colouristic refinement, though it has been painted with familiar Italo-Byzantine ovoid shapes. Curving contours outline her brow with the long, slender nose. The upper lip protrudes slightly and the chin recedes to blend with her graceful neck. The faces of the angels are likewise constructed, and gaze towards Christ with reverence. In the Ogissanti Madonna Giotto’s Virgin gazes outward with a calm and very human dignity and her lips are parted, showing an earthly passage of breath and even the white of her teeth, showing that he has largely abandoned the anatomical compartmentalisation of the Italo-Byzantine style. The robust Child is lightly but firmly held by his mother, whose fingertips press against his waist; her hand is truly sculptural, showing apparent