The Birth of European Painting

The roots of European painting lie in an awakening experience of Christianity which spread through the whole of Europe during the later Middle Ages. Painting offered a golden image of heaven. The very earliest paintings were accessories of the Christian faith, but gradually, especially in Italy, there developed the concept of a `picture.' Works of art began to relate the Christian experience to life in this world. This new approach is most powerfully seen in the works of Giotto, who introduced the element of narrative. Giotto cared less about being realistic than expressing human feeling. While introducing many realistic elements, Duccio kept well within the Sienese tradition, painting in warm rich colors, lavishly applying texture and gold leaf. The Black Death halted the course of realism for a while and artists reverted to a more ritualistic style of devotional painting. This intense religious mood gave way to an increasingly elaborate style, elegant and decorative, known as International Gothic.

Director
Henry Lewes

Writer/Narrator
Edwin Mullins