Here was a high point in interest, technique, and style that fed Florentine Art of the 14th century. We're talking circa 1360 here. Others might call this a low point; Art Guy in Jeans understands it to be a high point.
It's not soon after the Black Death, so whether or not you agree that the Black Death caused a conscious revival of 13th century "medieval art," you can at least admit that Florence was changing and there had been turmoil caused by the 1348 epidemic. Was Giovanni da Milano's new style - rejection of linear perspective, usage of unnatural color, and separation of God from the earthly realm- an epidemic in painting? It spread like mad. Orcagna was doing it, Francesco Traini was doing it, it was the most popular style of the time. It involved de-naturalizing the art and depicting God as a terrifying heavenly being.
Maybe they couldn't do any better? That's a lousy explanation. It just doesn't hold water. Giovanni da Milano is my hero because he clearly COULD paint naturalistically. Art Guy has two stunning examples: A face of Christ on the ceiling of the Rinuccini Chapel (Santa Croce) and a Virgin and Child that quakes with emotion in the Accademia. (Yeah, you have to go upstairs to see it.) These two works are clear progressions of the naturalistic revolution that started with the Pisanos and Giotto and were carried on towards perspectival rendering and vivid facial individualism with the Lorenzettis and Martini. Milano could do it.
For his big fresco commissions, however, he did no such thing. Using the same composition as Taddeo Gaddi's "Life of the Virgin" cycle in the same church, Milano gives Santa Croce's Rinuccini Chapel a dark-fairy-tale edge. The compositions are jagged and highly unnatural. The houses are depicted in such a way as to frame the figures rather than retreat realistically into space. The figures are tall, rigid, and above all, angry. It's not fun watching Joachim get expelled from the temple - every figure stares at him disapprovingly from within the dungeonous temple while he cowers and soaks in shame. Art Guy in Jeans gets chills when he looks at this stuff.
Our hero really digs this Giovanni da Milano guy even though he hasn't seen a whole lot of his work. The stuff our hero has seen is near perfect. Milano is of a breed of artist who could shift their style elegantly for the purposes of specific patrons - and with bone-crushing authority and conviction!
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