Follower of Bernardo Daddi, The Aldobrandini Triptych

Art History

Florence

Cimabue, Santa Trinita Madonna
Giotto, St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (Part 1 of 4)
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Part 2 of 4
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Part 3 of 4
Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Part 4 of 4
Giotto, The Ognissanti Madonna
Giotto's The Entombment of Mary
Andrea Pisano's Reliefs on the Campanile in Florence
Follower of Bernardo Daddi, The Aldobrandini Triptych

Follower of Bernardo Daddi, The Aldobrandini Triptych Follower of Bernardo Daddi, The Aldobrandini Triptych, tempera on panel, ca. 1336 (Portland Art Museum) Speakers: Tina Olsen and Maribeth Graybill For more: http://smarthistory.org/daddi-follower-triptych.html

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Follower of Bernardo Daddi, The Aldobrandini Triptych

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Tina Olsen: We are in the European Galleries of the Portland Art Museum
I am Christina Olsen
Maribeth Graybill: And I'm Maribeth Graybill
Tina: And we're standing in front of this incredible object by a follower of Bernardo Daddi
and what we see is a Madonna--the mother of Christ--surrounded by this group of saints and angels
--and this is not just a painting--it's really an object
Maribeth: What really draws me to this piece of the many--many Madonna and Christ as infant paintings in this room
--is what you've just pointed out that it is not a flat surface--it's not an easel painting
--but the whole thing is in fact a miniature church
Tina: Yes!
Maribeth: And so that there is the panel--the back-panel which has a steeple above it
--and then are doors--there's an entry way and these doors can be close
--and when they're closed--as we walk around the side--we can see it's just plain gilt
--perhaps gilt leather or gilt wood on the outside
--but then when you enter this space--when you open the doors
--suddenly you're in the presence of the Madonna
Tina: Absolutely--I love that too and I love this way
in which you realize that the object was both of course a representation
but also something that you the viewer and the devotee have a relationship with
--and the doors open and you are in the presence of the Madonna and this scene is revealed to you
--and let's talk about this scene because it's really really not just an image of the Madonna
but also the story of her life--we see the angel Gabriel on the top left door
--and the angel Gabriel comes down from heaven and tells Mary
that she will be the mother of Christ--that she will bear a son
Maribeth: The enunciation scene--and what's so wonderful
in these two is the sensitivity of this artist's gestures
--so Gabriel raises his right hand to make an announcement
Tina: Absolutely!
Maribeth: Mary--you know--and she as you've pointed out earlier
--places her hand over her heart and inclines her head in this beautifully modest -- "me?..me?"
--we can almost hear the conversation between them because it's so dramatically enacted for us
Tina: Absolutely! And then below the angel Gabriel
--we see in fact the nativity scene when Christ is born in the manger
Maribeth: With a cow and a donkey
Tina: And angels above with halos
Maribeth: And Joseph below interacting I think with a sheperd
--and then over here on the right-hand side is the crucifixion
--Christ on the cross--emaciated--his skin even takes on a sort of deathly pallor
--blood is coming from his wounds--and at his feet--standing on the ground-- his moth Mary is swooning
--and accompanied by John and other follows of Jesus
Tina: And John holds her up in this incredible--and she's just mourning her son has died
--and I love the way in which then the object has both an immediate time and also a narrative time
--in other words we come upon it and there the virgin is
--but what we see to the left and right is both what has happened before and what will happen to come
--so this is just this unbelievable sense of presence and kind of multiple senses of time in the object
Maribeth: And it just occurs to me as you say that
--that if we think about it--the panels have narrative things
--you know--things have happened--things that are recorded in the Bible
--but the central panel of Mary enthroned--that's not in the biblical text
--but also because that's presented hieratically--that's eternal--it's outside of time
Tina: And that's the relationship with us
--I mean it's really the central panel that is always alive and always speaking to us
--as both an image but also an alive efficacious diety

Learn more about this work of art in context at smarthistory.khanacademy.org

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