A Comparison of Two Paintings from the Renaissance Period

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A Comparison of Two Paintings from the Renaissance Period

Introduction

This paper will compare the themes found in the paintings “Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and an Angel” by Domenico di Bartolomeo Ubaldini (Puligo) and “Madonna Enthroned” by Giotto. Both paintings deal with fables from the Christian faith but were executed during different periods in art. The Giotto painting was created around 1310 and the Puglio painting was executed between 1518 – 1520. Here, these two paintings have similar themes both at the extreme beginnings and endings of the Italian Renaissance, and as such they serve to present an exceptional example of the developments in art that occurred within that time. This paper shall compare these two paintings through addressing a series of questions on the subject.

Subject Matter or Iconography

“Madonna Enthroned” is the earlier of the two works to be surveyed in this paper, and as such there is a great deal more popularity surrounding this work. The image is simple: The subject matter is religious and concerns a host of holy figures surrounding the Madonna with an infant figure of Christ on her lap. “Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and Angel” is similar in that other holy figures are gathered to pay their respects to Christ but the scene is more open and less focused on just the two central figures. “Madonna and Child…” in my opinion is therefore a more complex composition, where instead of having two recogn...

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