Italo-Byzantine Panel Painting of the late 13^th and early 14^th Centuries

By Jan Janowicz Bogdanski

Introduction

These are paintings on a wooden panel inspired by various 13th and 14th century examples. These figures are executed using egg tempera and show influences of both Eastern and Western Gothic painting styles of the time.

What is Italo-Byzantine Style?

It is the shapes of the various forms that define the Byzantine icon style. The human form is not meant to mirror real life, but is a representation of spiritual life, thus the figures are stylized deliberately. The icon is to make the viewer think of the spiritual, not the physical.

This style has a very narrow window. Practiced most famously in Siena and Florence, with known works in Venice and Sicily as well, it reached its height with artists such as Cimabue, whose last piece was still in process when he died in 1302, and Guido da Siena, whose works date from the 1270s. Cimabue’s renowned student Giotto was the first great artist of the proto Renaissance style, which was the next one in the evolution.

What am I looking at?

I have two pieces here today: the main piece is one of St. Michael the Archangel battling the serpent, with a supporting piece of the Madonna and Child.

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