Visual Comparison
Giotto, Crucifixion c.1305 VS Duccio, Crucifixion, 1308-1311
Written by Kan, Ho Chiu Ying
19th January 2005
Duccio di Buoninsegna was the first mentioned Sienese painter being
influenced by Byzantine tradition. Giotto di Bondone was the first great one
who did the Florentines painting. Both Styles were the great masters who
started the Renaissance period of Art. To compare the paintings with the same
title Crucifixion, we can look into their masterpieces in details.
Medium
The Crucifixion (1308-11) painted by Duccio was using Tempera on wood
panel as the medium that had made the painting look shining and bright. The
Crucifixion (c1305) done by Giotto was using Fresco, which let the colors of
the painting look more pastel and mild. Both painting materials generated
different moods. Duccio’s one looked more grand and serious while the other
looked more natural.
Setting
The setting of Duccio’s painting was a simple plain background with a rocky
ground bearing the crosses. This made the atmosphere look really sad. On the
other hand, Giotto’s painting had a more complicated setting with a large
piece of architecture by arranging the people standing inside, outside and on
the staircases of the block of the building. As such, the painting was more
close to the real life situation. His painting could arouse the imagination of the
viewers, for example, they could imagine what would happen to the little Virgin
after stepping up the staircases. There was also a blue background with some
irregular shapes of dull yellow paints on it that looked like a world map. One
more point is, we can observe a lot of geometry in the paintings including
arches rectangles, triangles, cylinders and pyramids etc. This has represented
that he had the strong knowledge and senses on architecture that made his
painting close to the reality. Both of the paintings tried to have three
dimensional effect. Duccio presented it by the shading of the rocky platform
while Giotto presented the side view of the architecture with shades as well as
the arrangement of the various standing positions of the figures.
Space
In Duccio’s painting, the bottom part was crowded with people that had made
it very noisy. However, in the upper part, we can see a lot of space around
Jesus, the figure in the middle, speaking the silence of the death. In Giotto’s
painting, the space was comparatively fully used. The background is less noisy
with only two simple colours, blue and yellowish paints. The crowded
arrangement was suitable in presenting a holly and happy moment. It seems
there were an extension of the crowd outside the frame of the pictures.
Composition
In Duccio’s work, we can see the upper half was with lighter colours and
spacious while the lower part was crowded with many figures with darker
colours. Look at the most upper part, the colours were ever softer and lighter.
This could suggest the eternity and freedom of Jesus after the sacrificing
action. The overall structure of the painting looked symmetrical. Jesus Christ
was in the middle separated two groups of people. On his right side, those
were kind and saint people. On his left, they were the Rome who put him to
death. There was a contrast of the two groups of people. The kind ones felt
great suffering while those against Jesus were still roaring and accusing him.
The rocky road implied the difficulties of Jesus’s way to the cross. The two
other men being hung were symmetrical in their posture, Their knees pointing
towards the Jesus. It was too dull if they were facing each other. Therefore, he
purposefully making them look to the same direction. Moreover, the cross of
Jesus was different from the others that the top was longer, leading to the
Heaven. The crying angels were looking down to Jesus making a triangle
structure, symbolizing the 3 elements of God. On the whole, The composition
was very neat and tidy.
Unlike Duccio, the focus of Crucifixion by Giotto was not in the middle. It was
a bit on the left hand side, the Virgin. Though the building occupied a lot of
space on the right, the hands and the facing direction of the people and the
staircase had helped us to find out the focus, the Virgin. On the contrary to
Duccio’s symmetry, in Giotto’s painting, people diverged by the building. The
overall arrangement was not symmetrical yet there was a balance by putting
two figures standing on the right hand side. The simple background was also
serving a balancing effect of the crowded images underneath.
Lines
Duccio emphasized on the story itself. Therefore there were sometimes
dramatic lines such as the splitting of the blood from Jesus’ wound on the
chest. He presented it just like a stream of water pushing out from a damaged
pneumatic boat! Giotto paid more attention to the lines. There were many
straight lines and curves in this picture, mainly related to the building, making
them look very strong. While drawing the figures, their appearances were
sharp but smooth. The lines were also delicate when presenting their clothes
that were soft and moving according to the poses of the people. You can also
observe the invisible lines that all hands were guiding towards the direction of
the little Virgin to show the focus. Likewise, Duccio was using the same skill
that there were some hands pointing to Jesus, the focus point.
Treatment of Figures
In Duccio’s painting, you can find grief on the kind faces with frown. You can
also find other facial expressions such as people keep speaking or insulting
Jesus, discussing among themselves, fainted, looking up on Jesus who was
the whitest and brighter in skin colours among the three dying men, etc. In
Giotto’s work, all people look very alike or even having the same face like
twins. But you can still distinguish the age and sex from their hairstyles and
clothing. Most of them looked very dull except the main characters in the
middle. The one hiding his head under the basket had made the picture look
more vivid.
Both artists tended to differentiate the Saints from the general people by
putting a “glowing circle” as light onto their head to symbolize “holiness”.
We can see the above analysis applies to many of the paintings of the artists
were so prominent in their styles. In summary, Duccio himself has more
imagination in presenting his stories. Therefore, he tended to present in a
more exaggerated way. Giotto, on the contrary, then to present his story in a
more human and natural way which allow viewers’ imagination based on their
real life.
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maestà (back, central panel): The Crucifixion. 1308-11.
Tempera on wood panel. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, Italy. More.
Giotto, Crucifixion c.1305