Paintings

Master of the Straus Madonna portrays what seems to be a loving and joyful relationship between mother and child. The periodic style is that of the late 14th and early 15th century which came about during the period of early renaissance. The painting expresses an emotional overpowering feeling. The Virgin is looking at the child with an expression that seems very tranquil. She is almost smiling yet at the same time praying. At the same time, the child seems very comfortable with the mother holding the finger with his right hand and a little bird being held gently in the child’s left hand. The child looks out at the viewer with a look of a visionary, expressing the care free comfortable state of mind as any toddler would.

The child is depicted as a chubby baby with rosy cheeks and small sparkly eyes. The child’s head is tilted a bit to his left with his blond bushy hair giving a round look to the face. The child is covered by a red silky cloth beneath his waist. The cloth contains small yellow spots that are very similar to the shirt the virgin has on. The child has a necklace with a kind of red

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The lighting seems to becoming directly to them or more towards where the child is starring. The ripples of the baby give a feeling of movement in the painting. The lips are small and almost seems that a smile is about to occur. Both masters would create an altarpiece that had a lot color.

The colors of the Netherlandish paintings are a lot more vibrant and alive than the painting of Straus Madonna.

Rogier van der Weyden created fluid and dynamic compositions stressing human action and drama. The Virgin’s zealous expression and long devoted thoughts gives the viewers the treasures of the Child as he was brought to this new world. The use of modeling of light and shade gives a better three-dimensional effect and depth to the painting that Giotto’s. The flower may be representing love. The composition’s used shallow space and the linear flatness in the rendering of the forms are all familiar traits of a long and venerated tradition of Byzantine art.

Giotto’s paintings were based on the naturalistic approaches to life. The Byzantine paintings were specifically two dimensional. Giotto used space sufficiently to project an illusion of solid bodies moving.

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