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San Jacinto

Art in Pre-Renaissance Italy

Florentine Vs. Venetian

Jerom Thomas

Art History 1303

Lou Brock

04/12/17
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Art in Pre-Renaissance Italy: Florentine Vs. Venetian

Art embodies different cultures and practices used in the location that it is created in. It is

an interesting form of comparing and contrasting different values of the culture. The Museum of

Fine Arts showcases many interesting pieces of art, mostly from the 14th century renaissance

period. There are a few pre-renaissance period arts that were on display, including the two pieces

of art that are being compared, the meeting of Anna and Joachim by the master of the golden

gate as well as the virgin and child attributed to Giovanni Bellini. The meeting of Anna and

Joachim is a Florentine painting that is thought to be completed sometime between c. 1370 and

1390 while the virgin and child is Venetian painting believed to be finished sometime between c.

1460 and 1470. While both paintings originated in Italy, there are important differences that can

be noticed relatively quickly while studying the paintings. The medium of both painting remain

very much similar to each other except for the meeting of Anna and Joachim using both tempera

and gold leaf on wood while the virgin and child only uses tempera on wood. These two pieces

of art shows distinct characteristics of visual elements, cultural context, completed time period,

and the similarities as well as the differences found in the paintings.

Artist express their feeling and thoughts on the subject of their painting by displaying

visual elements that are appropriate to the emotions. The master of the golden gate portrayed an

interesting subject for his/her painting by choosing Joachim and his wife Anna. While

Christianity was extremely popular in Florence during the time period of this painting, the

subjects in this painting are lesser known character from the Bible. The artist magnifies

characters like Joachim and Anna in the painting, shifting the attention of the viewer from the

background by introducing subtler colors in the background the artist creates Joachim and Anna

as the central figures. The virgin and child on the other hand focuses on two of the most
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important characters in the Bible, Mary and Jesus. Bellini uses Mary and baby Jesus as his focus

by pushing them to the absolute forefront while the background remains small. the meeting of

Anna and Joachim is painted in a more structured aspect with crisp lines that outlines the cities,

homes and the mountain sides. The artist chose to use warm colors for both Anna and Joachim

while everything that surround them remains a much duller atmosphere. The specific colors draw

the attention of the viewer towards the center of the painting but the artist also chose to paint one

of the house and the partially hidden mountain in the back a warmer color similar to pink. The

artist also created significance at the center of the painting by making everything surround it

considerably smaller in scale. Giovanni Bellini approached the task of showing his main

characters significance by painting his characters greater than anything surrounding it. The

painting has fewer rigid lines creating a more naturalistic painting that is surrounded by the

incredibly detailed background. Bellini used cooler colors in his paining creating shadows that

emulate movement and fluidity in his painting which is missing in the meeting of Anna and

Joachim.

The 14th century painting displays a more devotional attitude, most devotional images

where backgrounded with gold leafs to show the importance of the subjects of the paintings. This

aspect is clearly displayed in the meeting of Anna and Joachim, the artist immortalized the

subject of the painting by introducing the gold leaf background and faces that displayed no

emotions. This method of painting was prominent during this time period since it largely copied

from the Byzantine art. Since the Italy was part of the byzantine empire before its collapse, much

of its art during early 13 14 century was heavily influenced by it. The characters would display

unmoving action, a snapshot of the event that is occurring. Art began to change towards the end

of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. While most of the characters remained
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in an action, the artist began to introduce the shadows create depth and emotions in the subjects,

creating a more 3D painting. This method is prominent in the Virgin and child; the painting

displays a more naturalistic style while showing more depth than the older painting the meeting

of Anna and Joachim. Another interesting aspect that could have created the different pieces of

art work could be the paint/tempera used. 14th century art would predominantly be using egg

tempera which was known to create long lasting paintings which was the same medium used in

the meeting of Anna and Joachim but at the beginning of 15th century, Bellini learned about oil

tempera which was a technique more common in northern Europe that could would give more

depth to the subject and making it more naturalistic image.

While the paintings origin could be considered relatively close to one another, they

difference of styles could be attributed to the time of creation. The approximate 100-year

difference between the paintings has created a distinct change in the culture, and the effects of it

are easily recognizable in the later painting. The meeting of Anna and Joachim showcases the

extend of influence from byzantine culture and the importance of Christianity during that time

period. As the Byzantine empire collapsed its influence began to fade and it began to be replaced

by Italian pre-renaissance culture. The art began to shift away from simple non-moving event to

a more naturalism focused art. Incredible artist like Giotto emerged during this time period,

evolving creating art that showed depth and human emotion was missing in the byzantine

inspired art works. As new innovations for applying pigment to the canvas began appear, it

helped the Italian art introduce darker colors creating a more realistic image.

These two art pieces share many commonalities while having many differences that are

identifiable. Both artworks remain focused on Christianity, the main subject of both the paintings

are characters from Bible. the meeting of Anna and Joachim, depicts Joachim greeting his wife
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after she received the news that she would bear a child while the Virgin and boy is an image of

Mary and baby Jesus. The paintings differ greatly when the amount of detail for both works are

taken into consideration. The older painting shows the people in detail but background is painted

in more simplistic style. The newer image shows a more in-depth work that even displays the

background in a realistic manor while portraying Mary and her son in a more organic setting.

Both works used tempera on wood as the medium but while the older painting used the egg

based pigment application the relatively newer work used a mixture of egg and oil to create a

pigment application method that were able to produce a more wholesome image than possible

before.

The master of the golden gate and Giovanni Bellini showcased two devotional painting

that was influenced by the most important aspect of their culture. When the fall of the Byzantine

empire occurred Christianity remained a steadfast religion that continued to dominate and grow

in power. Both artists paintings showed the visual effects of the religion in the culture during the

pre-renaissance. the meeting of Anna and Joachim creates an image that reveres the saints of the

bible in a more formal attitude, while the virgin and boy invites the viewer to see Mary and baby

Jesus in more realistic and approachable manor. I think that the second image creates a better

representation of the culture during the 14 century and early 15 by integrating both the

importance of religion and the evolution of art in that era.


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Works Cited

Bellini, Giovanni. Virgin and Child. C. 14601470. Tempera on wood. Private Collection,

Bologna, The Audrey Jones Beck Building.

Boskovits, Mikls. "Giotto." National Gallery of Art. N.p., 21 Mar. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

"Italian Paintings of the 13th and 14th Centuries." National Gallery of Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 10

Apr. 2017.

"Italian Pre-Renaissance Painting (c.1300-1400)." Pre-Renaissance Painting: 14th-Century. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

Janson, Horst W., Penelope J. E. Davies, Walter B. Denny, Frima Fox Hofrichter, Joseph Jacobs,

David L. Simon, Ann M. Roberts, and Anthony F. Janson. Janson's History of Art: The

Western Tradition. 8th ed. Vol. I. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2015.

Print.

Master of the Golden Gate. The Meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate. C. 1370

1390. Tempera and gold leaf on wood. Collection Rudolph Chillingworth, Lucerne, The

Audrey Jones Beck Building.

Meagher, Jennifer. "Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of

Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

Sarathy, Jennifer. "Proto-Renaissance in Italy (12001400)." Art History Teaching Resources.

Ed. Amy Raffel. N.p., 16 Jan. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

Sorabella, Author: Jean. "Venetian Color and Florentine Design | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of

Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art

History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2002. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

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