Cimabue’s Maestà di Assisi marks a pivotal shift from Byzantine abstraction toward early naturalism, portraying the Virgin and Child with emerging spatial depth and human presence within a profoundly devotional medieval context.
Saint Constantine in Arezzo
On Saint Constantine’s name day, a journey to Arezzo — where Piero della Francesca’s majestic frescoes place Constantine at the heart of one of Renaissance art’s greatest cycles.
Good Friday – ΜεγάληΠαρασκευή
Pietro Lorenzetti’s early 14th-century Crucifixion fresco in Assisi’s Lower Church of San Francesco is a haunting masterpiece of raw emotion, naturalism, and divine sacrifice that bridges Gothic spirituality and Renaissance vision.
Palm Sunday fresco scene in Assisi
Pietro Lorenzetti’s breathtaking Passion frescoes in Assisi’s Lower Basilica of San Francesco blend Gothic spirituality with pioneering naturalism — transforming biblical narrative into deeply human, emotionally charged scenes that foreshadowed the Renaissance.
The Month of October
At Torre Aquila, Master Wenceslas captures October as a vibrant celebration of harvest, where labor, landscape, and lordly ambition blend into a joyful vision of prosperity.
The Month of September
The Castello del Buonconsiglio preserves the vivid “Ciclo dei Mesi” fresco cycle, where Master Venceslao contrasts rural labour and aristocratic leisure, revealing medieval visions of seasonal order and social hierarchy.
The Month of August
Jean Toomer’s Harvest Song resonates with the Torre Aquila, where Master Venceslao depicts August’s labor and leisure, binding human toil to a timeless seasonal rhythm.
The Month of May
Master Wenceslas’s May fresco at Torre Aquila celebrates spring as aristocratic delight and rural renewal, where blossoming nature, courtly love, and Alpine prosperity merge into a radiant vision of medieval life.
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
https://history2701.fandom.com/wiki/The_Forty_Martyrs_of_Sebaste
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste Ivory Icon at the BODE Museum in Berlin is a favorite of mine for making me think, reflect and compare.
First of all, I like the story of these 40 tough Roman soldiers, devoted to their faith, suffering… in the city of Sevaste, in Armenia, during the reign of Emperor Licinius, and under the presidency of Agricolaus, in the year 320 AD. Their story is beautifully told by MATHEW in http://dignareme.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-40-martyrs-of-sebaste.html
Then, I like Byzantine Ivory Carving! What a magnificent medium in… small-scale. Byzantine Art is not only about monumental, awe-inspiring mosaics and frescoes. The aficionados of Byzantium find equal pleasure even more! in artifacts of smaller scale, like luxurious ivories, silverware, glassware, and jewelry, even humble pottery and woodwork.
I am fascinated by Ivory itself. One only has to imagine the caravans or the galleys bringing to Constantinople African elephant tasks, the anticipation of the artisans ready to put their expertise into practice, and the eagerness of the buyers as they consider one more coveted possession. During the 10th and the 11th centuries, Byzantine Ivories were popular among the City’s aristocrats and highly prized as Imperial gifts to foreign dignitaries.
Meticulously carved, ivory icons, consular diptychs, or pyxides, enchant us today with their beauty. “The allure of this substance is easily understood: its smooth, tactile quality and creamy color made it ideal for the creation of” amazing works of art, just like the Icon of the Forty Martyrs of Sevaste in the BODE Museum.
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, 10th century AD, ivory relief panel from Constantinople, Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, BODE Museum, Berlin
Is this amazing carving a case of Byzantine Renascence? The depiction of forty agonizing bodies, winding and twisting, reminds me of Signorelli’s fantasia of Paradise and Hell in Orvioto’s Cathedral, in the Capella of San Brizio. Are there missing links connecting these two masterpieces I don’t know about? Whatever the answer is, the BODE Ivory Icon is a strategic player in the equation. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ivor/hd_ivor.htm and http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/lucasignorelli/sanbriziochapel.htm
For a “Similarities and Differences” Student Activity, please… check HERE!
The Month of February
February at Torre Aquila captures a vibrant jousting tournament—knights clash for honor and love while elegantly dressed ladies watch, as scenes of chivalry and daily labor unfold in vivid medieval life.