Giotto di Bondone,Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels and Saints,
known asOgnissanti Madonna, c. 1310. Tempera on wood panel,
325 x 204 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Gothic Painting

The Gothic started in France, but influenced all of Europe, particularly Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The complex filigree architectural style was echoed in the reliquaries of the times, which were ornately decorated by sculptors.

Whenever the Gothic is mentioned, the first thought naturally goes to the architecture of the period. Just as music, literature and philosophy were almost exclusively determined by spiritualisation and the longing for God, painting, too, features almost exclusively religious motifs. In the Romanesque period large wall spaces were filled with monumental frescos. The relatively narrow walls of Gothic architecture no longer afforded room for such extensive wall paintings. This is why Gothic paintings are often small.

The most important event in painting during this period was the emergence of panel painting, which soon developed into an independent art form that was free of architecture and featured its own rules. Painting was of secondary importance in the creation of altar shrines, where it was initially employed. Wooden sculpture assumed the main role of depiction in these altars. The countless figures looked more like paintings than plastic artworks. Painting in turn originally took a secondary role, but began to compete with sculpture by depicting figures in as plastic a way as possible, but without making use of the power inherent in colour.

Since money only came from princely courts or the clergy, most reredos were painted on wooden panels – hence the name “pa