Giotto di Bondone was an Italian artist and architect, who lived within the 14th century. His artwork was created in the Renaissance period, and it revolves around themes such as religion and spirituality. Giotto had a love for humanism, his work would explore the relationship between biblical iconography and Christian worship which would aim to bring people closer to God (The Art Story,2022). The “Nativity birth of Jesus” is a painting by Giotto which showcases the Virgin Mary with her baby Jesus, the son of God.
In this painting we can see the depiction of farm animals and livestock surrounding Mary and Jesus. It also looks like Giotto has placed Joseph the husband of Mary at the bottom of the painting looking quite sorrowful. We can also see Mary staring into the eyes of baby Jesus which could suggest a sense of admiration or amazement because she has literally given birth to the son of God. I like how Giotto has placed angels right above the Virgin Mary and Jesus it could emphasise the divinity of Jesus because he wasn’t just an ordinary human being within the Christian faith.
This artwork was published in the soviet anti-religious magazine called ‘bezbozhnik’. It was part of a series of anti-religious works and its purpose was to dismiss any beliefs that were distracting to the working class. The magazine was published in 1925 and this particular artwork was made by the cartoonist N.F. Denisovsky (Rare historical photos,2022). The artist believed that all religions were corrupted and were used as a tool to
Control the masses. This picture depicts a golden Buddha with an enlarged stomach sat upon people crushing them. When you look very closely you can see blood seeping from the people. This could be
communicating some of the atrocities that have been committed in the name of religion, which gives a very sinister message to this artwork. Moreover, I believe the gold Buddha is a symbol of power which does tie into the idea that religion can be used as a tool to control the masses. There are also some men standing beneath the Buddha who appear to be people with status and power. But they also seem like they are very cruel and don’t care about the suffering of others. I believe this piece of artwork appropriates the religion of Buddhism because the religion itself promotes enlightenment and love. Whereas in this picture, we can that it depicts the violence and suffering of others.
References
The Art Story, 2022. Giotto Paintings, Bio, Ideas. [online] The Art Story. Available at: <https://www.theartstory.org/artist/giotto/> [Accessed 16 October 2022].
Rare historical photos (2022) The brutal art of early Soviet antireligious propaganda posters, 1920-1940, Rare Historical Photos. Available at: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/soviet-antireligious-propaganda-posters/ (Accessed: October 17, 2022).
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