John 20:17. Outside the empty tomb, Christ says to the Magdalene: “Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” A moving counterpart to the unbridled rage, sorrow, and fury of the Magdalene in Niccolo dell’Arca’s later “Lamentation” terracotta group in Bologna posted yesterday. Giotto here presents us with a superb surface organization of form, line (Follow the compositional lines – both real and implied), and color. So much so that it takes the viewer beyond the merely apparent, and outside the composition – outside the work – and suggests (gives) to the viewer a brilliant – perhaps first-ever – portrayal of yearning and its feared counterpart, rejection.
Giotto & The Invention of Yearning. More in ALT. #art #fresco #paintings #italy #easter #semiotics