How Is Giotto Portrayed In Caravaggio's Entombment?

The development of painting in Italy has improved immensely over time. Giotto’s painting Lamentation and in Caravaggio’s Entombment both portray similar messages through different period styles. Giotto was an early renaissance painter that introduced gold leaf and lapis lazuli which is shown through Lamentation. Lamentation comes from the lament, which means to grieve, in which Mary and others were lamenting the death of her son. While on the other hand, Caravaggio’s style of painting was portrayed by realism. He felt that realism gave him the best picture to reflect onto the canvas. He later began a style called Entombment, which brought the audience close to the space and action that the painting entailed. Despite the similarities that the two artist share, there are also many differences.
In Giotto’s painting, it captures the event where Jesus Christ is being mourned by his mother Mary and his followers because he had just been crucified and taken down from the cross.
The figures in the painting show their grief in different ways, some are sad and keeping to themselves while others throw their arms out. This shows the different ways people express their emotions. Giotto put all emphasis on Christ in this painting so that he could be the focal point. All the figures surrounding Jesus have deep emotions that are expressed while looking down at him in his mother’s arms. With all the figures looking at the same thing it automatically makes the viewer focus on that focal point.
Giotto was also very interested in naturalism and shows two figures sitting down at the both of the image with their backs turned to the viewer to interpret a realistic crowd scene. We are looking at Jesus and Mary as they are looking at them too. Besides all the human figures Giotto also presents angels in the sky. The angels are also mourning because the of the death of Christ. They bring a lot more despondent emotion to this painting for example, one of them
is grabbing her checks really hard, while another one is pulling her hair. There is also a deciduous tree in the background with no leaves on it which means that this took place during the winter time.
Caravaggio’s Entombment captures the same exact scene but in a much small window. Jesus had just been taken off the cross and is now in the hands of his followers. The biggest difference is that Mary isn’t holding his son in this painting, his followers are. All the figures are mourning because of the death of Jesus and the focal point is on him, just like in Giotto’s painting. There is no background. It is simply dark to enhance the actions and emotions of the characters in the front. Caravaggio placed all of the figures close together with what seems to be a spotlight coming from the upper left hand corner. Just like in Giotto’s painting, there is a person throwing their hands up because of the tragedy. The body of Jesus Christ is much more defined in this painting. His body has a pale and greenish look to it to give it that lifeless look. His lips also have a blue tint, and his arm is dangling to show that his is dead. The scene it taken place on a stone slab in which all the figures are standing on it. There is a fresh green plant at the bottom of the image which could symbolize some form of life. Jesus’ follower has his hand placed on Jesus’ right side of the wound from when he was pierced on the cross with a spear to ensure he was dead.
The structure of art remains precise, the detail that lies within the painting continuously evolves. Artist reflect on past pieces to create a more modern take. The medium and composition has changed over the years because of the development in the art industry. Giotto and Caravaggio were both great artist during their time. Their unique sense of style continues to influence today’s artist. Overall, I really enjoyed analyzing these paintings and getting a better understanding of their period styles.