Cimabue: Madonna Enthroned, with Saints and Angels (c.1280)

"...he spent the whole day drawing men, horses, houses and various other fantasies in this books and papers" -The Lives of the Artists, Giorgio Vasari

Our picture study for this week is from an alterpiece by Cimabue (CHEEmah BOO eh) (@1240-1302). We will be studying him only for a week, as a starting point for the quest to make human figures more lifelike. Cimabue was the first to have human figures tilt their heads.
We also talked about craftsmen and guilds and how alterpieces were made during this time; with layers of wooden planks glued together, covered with canvas and gesso coating. We also talked about how gold leaf was applied to the halos for a shimmering effect. I had them imagining that they were walking into a large dark church, lit only by candles and the colored shafts of light coming in from the stained glass pictures of the windows. This light is caught on the gold leaf that has been lightly pounded to created the bends needed to reflect the light all over, making the halos glow.

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