Side by Side: Cimabue and Giotto at Pisa

April 2012 - Julian Gardner, Samuel H. Kress Professor, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. In this lecture recorded on February 5, 2012, at the National Gallery of Art, Julian Gardner, professor emeritus at the University of Warwick, discusses a pair of large works by two of the greatest figures in early Italian painting: Cimabue and Giotto. Miraculously preserved, these two paintings now hang in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Their current placement at the Louvre mimics the original installation in the church of San Francesco in Pisa. By reconstructing the original setting in Italy, Gardner examines how it is possible to learn more about these paintings, the intention of the artists and patrons, and the works' interrelationship with the Franciscan church.