The Key to Modernizing Byzantine Art: Influence and Improvement

            During the early trecento in Italy, painters took influence from masters such as Cimabue and Giotto – though Giotto far surpassed the former in style and color – in order to improve upon and modernize the field of art. 

Lorenzetti, Presentaion of Jeus in the 

Temple (1348), Photo courtesy of 

Google Art Project

One such artist by the name of Ambrogio Lorenzetti came from the Sienese School of painters, living from 1290-1348.  His Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, painted in 1348, demonstrates both his influence from Giotto and his impelling need to further the realistic and humanistic style of painting becoming ever more popular in the Italian Proto Renaissance. 

Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is characterized by great attention to depth and three dimensionality, as seen in the folded draperies of the figures, as well as the remarkable architecture which recedes into the background; which also exemplifies Lorenzetti’s conscious observation of the world around him.  Though the traditional use of linear perspective would not come to existence for another two hundred years, Lorenzetti clearly recognized that in order to create three dimensionality on a two dimensional space, the world must gradually become smaller as it recedes into the background.  Lorenzetti’s traditional Byzantine influence is clear in the long faces of his figures, as well as the gold trimming and common subject of his 

Close up of Presentaion of Jesus, Photo courtesy
of Google Art Project

        painting; but like Giotto he adds a tone of humanity to the faces – the men talk to one another with somewhat more animated expressions and the women look placidly upon the baby Jesus, who more resembles a human baby than in Byzantine portrayals. 

All together, the altar piece is a remarkable example of the painter’s ability to further expand the style of painting during his time, through both the setting he paints his figures within and the figures themselves.  Lorenzetti was one of the first     artists to truly create a three dimensional space on a flat surface.