WELCOME FRIENDS, FAMILY & FACULTY!

This blog is an art history experiment for our Italian Renaissance travel course. We hope that you, our visitors, will not only take some time to read about what we are studying, but will ALSO feel free to make comments or ask us questions...especially after we see (most of) these things in person. As we travel, we will offer personal reflections on our experiences. After we fly out on the 17th, follow us as we visit Rome (May 18-20), Florence (20-24), and Venice (24-25). We return on Thursday, May 26...just in time for the holiday weekend.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Rucellai Madonna, Duccio

•Duccio di Buoninsegna (active 1278-1318)
•Dimensions: 14’ 9 1/8” X 9’ 6 1/8”
•Commisioned in 1285 by, the Society of the Virgin Mary, a group founded to combat heresy
•Was commonly known as the Laudesi, after the Lauds, or hymns of praise they sang to the virgin mother
•Now known as the Rucellai Madonna because it once stood in the Rucellai family chapel in Santa Maria Novella
•Currently in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
•Slight right angle view
•Ligter “flower-like” tones in angels robes were new in Italian panel painting
•Throne hung with silk pattern
•Folds indicated by thin wash brushed over the painted design
•Same pattern appears in the frescoes in the chapel of Laudesi at Santa Maria Novella
•Ovoid shapes of the Virgin’s face are similar to those of Coppo di Marcovaldi’s but more organic
•Eyes outlined with curves connecting the browline and nose
•Chin recedes to portray her modesty
•Flame-like line in Mary’s robe
-Allie

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