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- [Woman] So we're looking at Duccio's painting
of the Madonna Enthroned from 1285
and we're gonna talk about it as an example
of the style from Siena, which was one of the city states
in Italy, along with Florence and Milan and others.
And Siena developed its own unique style
and we see that here in Duccio's painting.
- [Man] Exactly.
Generally, medieval religious painting was characterized
by a very flat sense of depth, an emphasis on ornament,
figures that don't look very naturalistic or descriptive,
and Duccio takes these medieval characteristics
and goes even further with them.
So, for instance, although gold was common
in medieval painting, in Sienese gGthic painting,
established by Duccio, there's lots and lots
and lots of gold, which really helps create
a very otherworldly sense of representation.
For instance, you see behind the virgin Mary all this gold,
but also the throne doesn't seem to rest realistically
on the floor, the angels seem to be floating in midair
and in that throne, we can also see that emphasis
on a kind of decorative pattern ornament,
that creates an otherworldly sense of representation.
- [Woman] And I notice that kind of interest
in ornamentation, decorativeness also in her drapery,
which is sort of fluttering here
in a very, very unrealistic way, almost like Duccio's
just taking pleasure in that kind of sinuous line.
- [Man] Exactly, and also the very, very elongated figures
are another characteristic of the style.
- [Woman] Right, so if she stood up
she would be real tall and thin.
- [Man] She would be very, very tall.
- [Woman] So let's look at another example
of the style of Siena.
Here's Simone Martini's altarpiece of the Annunciation
with the Angel Gabriel here, announcing to Mary
that she's about the conceive the Christ Child.
And we have the Holy Spirit here, in the form of a dove.
So this is a very spiritual moment
and we have that same Sienese style,
that interest in representing the otherworldly
in that very flat, decorative way.
- [Man] Exactly.
Here we have even more gold in the background
and even more unrealistic, otherworldly sense of space.
Look at the figure of the virgin Mary.
She seems even more elongated and tall and skinny
than the one that we had seen in the painting by Duccio.
And despite all of this otherworldliness,
the painters still want us to understand
what we're looking at.
And so, although the space and the representation
of the figures may not be very realistic,
there's the slightest hint of their reactions
and what's going on,
and the angel seems to have just arrived in the room.
- [Woman] What is the angel holding?
- [Man] That is a laurel leaf that he's presenting to her
as a sign of her saintliness.
- [Woman] And the lilies here?
- [Man] The lilies represent her purity.
- [Woman] And so, we're getting all this information
about the subject, about what's happening,
about Mary's virginity and her purity
and the angel kneeling here.
But we have all this, clearly,
just the artist's pleasure in these decorative forms.
We see Gabriel's cape fluttering back in the wind
as he seems to swoop down.
- [Man] Exactly.
Again, there's that kind of liquid-like, undulating, long,
curvilinear line that's characteristic of Sienese painting.
- [Woman] So we have a sort of typical, medieval interest
in representing the otherworldly, using gold to do that,
but these sort of added characteristics
of the intensity of the gold and the decorative qualities
which we see here in the robe and in the angel's wings
and in Mary's drapery.
Those are the things that characterize
this specific style from Siena.
- [Man] Exactly.
When we're talking about religious images, anyway.
- [Woman] And so, this isn't a style that,
this isn't the only thing that they knew how to do in Siena.
This is a style that they're
intentionally choosing, - Exactly.
- because they're representing something spiritual
and otherworldly and those qualities indicate that.
But when they represent something more secular--
- [Man] Exactly.
Well, in some cases it would be important
to do exactly the opposite,
to represent something looking very familiar
and looking very real,
and that's the case of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's paintings
of the Allegories of Good and Bad Government
and the Effects of Good Government and Bad Government
on the City and on the Country.
- [Woman] And so, here we are in the town hall of Siena.
- [Man] That's right.
- [Woman] Lorenzetti's painted these frescoes and they're
a really different style than we saw in the Annunciation.
- [Man] That's true.
For instance, if we look at the landscape there,
on the right wall, what we see
is the Effects of Good Government on the Landscape
and it shows people working in the fields,
it shows the landscape receding into the distance.
And this is essentially supposed to represent
the area around Siena itself, so it wouldn't make sense
if Ambrogio Lorenzetti had painted this
with a gold background, looking unrealistic.
The point here, is that it's supposed to look like Siena.
It's supposed to look like the surrounding countryside
and therefore, here, we see an artist choosing
to make something look more descriptive,
more representational, more realistic,
rather than otherworldly.
- [Woman] So I think it's really important to remember
that these are choices that the artists are making.
- [Man] Naturalism is not a question of skill.
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