Talk:Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna

Comments

Well done!

• Firstly, containing an image of this proportion and detail in an info box really doesn't work. Do a squarish crop of the centre section, for the box. Then use panorama format for the painting, and put it after the last section of text so that it doesn't get obstructed when viewed on a wide shallow screen.
• Shortening the title of the painting: The present title of the article continues to use the adjective "celebrated" but drops the actual event. I would tend to drop the non-essential (and somewhat misleading) adjective and title the article: Cimabuue's Madonna is carried in procession.
• It would also be good to put the name (Leighton) after the picture title. This is common practice as in David (Michelangelo).
• Grammar: Measuring more than two meters tall and more than five meters wide, Leighton painted this large canvas from 1853 to 1855 in Rome as his first major work. The sentence gives a size, followed by a noun. The size describes whatever follows, so we must believe that Lord Frederick was not only tall but enormously corpulent.
• The scene depicts a scene from ....a description.... Two or three of these words need to be dropped as they all relate to the pictorial.

"The painting depicts an event described by Vasari in....."

"The subject of the picture is taken from Vasari's ......."

"The picture shows a scene from Vasari's....."

• "procession of a Madonna. What sort of "Madonna". At this point you need to make it clear that what is being carried is a painted altarpiece.
• The Madonna is processing from the home of ... The Madonna isn't processing. The image of the Madonna is being carried in procession.
• Arnolfo di Cambio. It would be better to name him as such, and just leave Vasari's name in your footnote.
• This is due to the mis-attribution of this piece by Vasari which lasted into Leighton's time Use "altarpiece" rather than piece.
• You need to mention that a large and similar altarpiece by Cimabue does exist and that the two representations of the Madonna now hang together in the Uffizi.
• It would be good to mention that Duccio was Cimabue's rival from the city of Siena.
• You need to point out which figure represents Dante.

The painting occupies a key position in the National Gallery above the entrance stairs. People mainly see it on their way out.

Concerning the subject matter: I never saw such a bored lot of people in my life! The most exciting event in this painting is that someone has broken his fiddle-string. But no bother, any instant now, the baby on the balcony is going to piss straight onto the deacon's shaved head. That will live things up. The stupid nursemaid may well drop the baby in her embarrassment.

There are only two bits of animation in the entire scene: the waving cherub on the extreme left, and the rearing horse on the right. Note that the Duke is completely oblivious to the fact that his horse is about to trample the gay lovers.

Amandajm (talk) 06:27, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Expression

He is flanked by a wide array of characters, including his protege Giotto, the poet Dante Alighieri,

• Cimabue isn't "flanked" by anyone, except the child that he has by the hand. He occupies the position of honour. What are the others actually doing?
• The various artists are not "characters". You could refer to them as "Cimabue's contemporaries".
• Two of these people, Giotto and Dante, can be easily identified, and should be, in this article.

Amandajm (talk) 00:27, 8 April 2014 (UTC)