Early Christian art from the catacombs on was highly symbolic, with attention focusing on the transcendent meaning of the image rather than on any "realistic" portrayal of earthly time and place. The emphasis was on transcendent time and place; the only earthly concern was with how one must act in order to enjoy eternal bliss in an after-life. Thus the figures in Byzantine art, while owing much to Roman painting in their treatment of drapery and facial features, tend to "float" in space without weight and solid mass, without occupying a three-dimensional space. The medium is often mosaic with gold leaf which radiates shimmering light, and the effect of the whole is to lift the figures and the viewers toward heaven. The figures are usually symmetrical, repetitive, and little emotion or individuality is expressed in the faces. From Byzantine art comes the concept of "size is everything." Large figures, often in the center or above, are the important ones – God, Saints, Clergy, even Kings. The small figures are peasants, workers, sinners, etc. Summary: Byzantine paintings are decorative, symbolic, "mystical," with flat figures, shallow depth, frontal view. Everything is frozen in permanent, stylized patterns – an "eternal" point of view, and the figures are "icons" rather than individual human beings.The mosaic above depicting the Roman Emperor Justinian and his attendants is from San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, and dates from 547 AD.

Throughout the middle ages, Italian art was largely conservative, sticking to the techniques and style established by the eastern, Byzantine Church. Cimabue was one of the first to begin breaking away from the Byzantine formalism. He shows a genuine if incomplete understanding of the human anatomy beneath the folds of drapery which are not merely decorative designs but fall naturally over the limbs. His Madonna Enthroned (left, 1270-1285) reveals Byzantine inspiration but its scale (12 feet by 7 feet) has no Byzantine counterpart. The crowding of figures behind the throne, the rigid posture of the Virgin, the absence of individual expressions, and the symmetrical treatment of figures that are not seen in depth or rendered in proper proportion (the figures below the throne, for instance) are all Byzantine characteristics. There is some attempt to create depth with the curved base of the throne and the superimposing of one figure in front of another. The figures below the throne are Jeremiah and Isaiah to the sides, and Abraham and King David in the center. We will see this tempera on wood panel in the Uffizi in Florence.

Duccio was a pupil of Cimabue. His work is more Byzantine in some respects, more "decorative" in coloring (this reproduction is not as bright with blue and gold as is the actual painting). But the new spirit of rendering the human figure with more weight and mass and occupying real human space is evident in the Maesta (below-detail, 1308-1311) which he painted for the cathedral in Siena. What is also new is the individual expressions given the attending angels. While they still create a formal pattern, there is a sense of emotion in each of them. Note too how the drapery falls over the Virgin’s right knee, with the folds and the shadowing implying a real human limb beneath. The faces are gentler and the folds of the drapery are softer than in Cimabue’s work. Duccio reveals not only the physical appearance of his subjects but their emotional states as well. He was also fond of placing his figures in architectural setting to give them a space in which to act. This appears on the back of the Maesta where Duccio has painted scenes from the Life of Christ and the Virgin. Giotto later would further develop the architectural setting and the dramatic actions of his figures along with the attendant emotions. We will see the Maesta in the Siena Cathedral Museum.

Giotto broke more thoroughly with the Byzantine past. His works exhibit a new spirit of realism. He models his figures with shadows to give them a roundness not found in Duccio and a sense of solid weight that walks on real earth. His subjects, like his predecessors, are all religious – the Life of the Virgin, the Life of Christ, the Life of St. Francis – but his concern was with dramatic action and human emotion. To make that dramatic action more effective, Giotto put his figures in space more realistically conceived than earlier painters. Giotto also uses shadows effectively to create a sense of volume in all of the figures. And he gave his figures individualized facial features with a variety of emotions to express. In the Madonna Enthroned (below, 1310), Giotto creates a sense of depth by layering the attendant angels, with the ones in the foreground blocking the view of the ones behind. The steps at the bottom of the throne extend out into the space of the viewer. The canopy over the central figures gives them a "separate" space to occupy. The Madonna herself makes "eye contact" with the viewer extending her space into ours. We will see this tempera on panel painting (10’ 8" by 6’ 8") in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. We will also see Giotto picture cycles in Assisi ("The Life of St. Francis), in Padua (The Life of Christ and the Life of the Virgin), and in Florence (the Church of Santa Croce). 

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