Gothic

Gothic Age artistic shift

The transition from medieval classical-Byzantine abstractness toward a realistic, earthly representation of human life and concrete environments, spanning from the mid-13th to the end of the 14th century.

Cimabue

Late 13th-century Italian painter who moved beyond late Byzantine models by infusing figures with expressive vitality and spatial consciousness; famous for his Crucifix in Florence and Majesty (Madonna of S. Trinità).

Giotto

Pioneering Florentine painter who founded a new pictorial language by placing concrete actions within realistic, deep environments; known for fresco cycles in Assisi (Leggenda di san Francesco) and Padua (Scrovegni Chapel).

Duccio di Buoninsegna

Major Sienese painter who renewed Byzantine art using fluid lines and rich color; created the Rucellai Madonna and the double-sided altarpiece for Siena Cathedral.

Benedetto Antelami

Sculptor and architect active mainly in Parma during the late 12th and early 13th centuries, associated with the Parma Baptistery and La Deposizione dalla croce.

Nicola Pisano

13th-century sculptor whose fame is largely tied to his elaborate pulpits in the Baptistery of Pisa (1260) and Siena Cathedral (1268).

Giovanni Pisano

Sculptor son of Nicola Pisano who collaborated on the Fonte Maggiore in Perugia and executed the pulpit of Pisa Cathedral (1310).

Arnolfo di Cambio

Florentine sculptor and architect trained in Nicola Pisano's school, noted for works such as Bonifazio VIII benedicente.

Wiligelmo

Sculptor active around 1099–1110 who crafted the Romanesque reliefs on Modena Cathedral.