Guariento di arpo biography of martin

  • Coronation of the Virgin Altarpiece: Washing
  • Briefly discusses the iconography

    • St Martin's History of the Sword, 14th-15th C

    In this post we continue our exploration of sword development using the period depictions of St. Martin. (part 1) As art becomes a venue for secular and religious powers to display wealth and status in the 14th and 15th centuries, the depictions of St. Martin flourish with more detail and variation. 

    The sculpture below, dated to 1340, is interesting as it shows the sword being gripped with the fore finger over the guard. This is an early example of this use of the index finger. The guard and pommel are some what damaged but this detail is clearly shown, creating a firm data point in the discussion of how a sword could be used for the mid 14th century. Details like this are important to illustrate the use and development of the sword and its use.

    Mid 1340's statue of St. Martin by Pisano

     The use of art to refine the story of sword development can leave one with questions that challenge are concepts of sword design. In the following picture we see a sword with what seems to be no guard. It also shows an extended forefinger and this may cover a short guard or it might well be showing a copy of an ancient sword as the artist may have seen sculpture illustrating such swords from the Roman period or Byzantine examples. But either way it does not fall in our normal concept of mid 14th C swords.

     St. Martin depicted in Coronation of the Virgin Altarpiece byGuariento di Arpo 1344

    This is a good example of how one must use a critical eye. We need to consider the artists work but also what their influences may have been and does it add to our study or lead us astray.

    In the next image we definitely see a wide arching guard and what looks to be some style of wheel shaped pommel. The forefinger again is shown over the guard and might be developing into a conventional way to show St. Martin. The sword here does not have great detail but can be seen to be a single handed sword of the later 14th century.

    1380 detail

    Guariento di Arpo relaxes perfection

    Sofia Silva

    Guariento di Arpo’s response to the authority of his Padua predecessor Giotto is one where grace blends with Gothic style and humanism

    Pictorial perfection ruled among artists in 13th century Padua. Mater perspectivae picturae, “the mother of painted perspective:” this is how the Euganean city was addressed. Crowds of scientists, opticians, builders, and ladies friends of the arts who bore the virginal names of Fina, Lieta, and Giliola gathered on the city’s squares, those corners now called “Duomo”, “Signori,” “delle Erbe,” and “della Frutta.” Padua was known to be a crossroad between art and science, a balance that the lords of the city, the Carraresi, strenuously protected. Great Aristotelian philosophers lived in Padua, first of all Pietro d’Abano, professor at the University, scholar of Islamic medicine, and friend of Marco Polo, but also Lovato Lovati, Albertino Mussato, Marsilio of Padua, Biagio Pelacani, and the Dondi dall’Orologio’s. This circle of pre-humanist intellectuals was responsible for the foundation of modern justice and science, and is now key to understanding the painting of Guariento di Arpo.

    To the untrained and uncertain eye, Guariento might come across as belonging to darker times, especially given his almost aristocratic, dare I say haughty, theological finesse. However, the city of Padua during Guariento’s life was more enlightened than the dark times it would experience in the centuries to come, and this conservative image of Guariento quickly disappears after a deeper look. Despite the cultural ferment of his city, and indeed precisely because of this, his life as an artist must have been tough. Born five years after the departure of Giotto and Giovanni Pisano (presumably around 1310), Guariento had to deal with their omnipresent legacy in town, attempting to respond to their achievements from an early age – Guariento was already paintin

    For St. Martin of Tours the commonest and most characteristic iconographic type is exemplified by the stained glass at right. Martin is on horseback and uses his sword to divide his cape in two. One half of the cape is for the beggar who stands beside the horse. In the legend the beggar is "all naked," but a completely naked beggar (example) is a rarity in the iconography. Usually he is barefoot, and much of the time his chest is exposed, as at right. Sometimes he will even have a short tunic as in this example, where he also has a halo to remind viewers that he is Christ.

    This is essentially a narrative image but sometimes the horse is absent and the beggar functions essentially as an attribute (example). The story comes from Sulpicius Severus' 5th-century life of the saint and was part of the Golden Legend's account in the 13th century. The next part of the story is Martin's dream that night, in which he sees Christ wearing the half-cloak and telling the angels, "Martin, yet new in the faith, hath covered me with this vesture" (image).

    OTHER NARRATIVE IMAGES

    Because St. Martin's fame was so widespread visitors may find other narrative images from the Legend in churches and museums. One popular subject was Martin's renunciation of arms (example). Even more popular were his resurrections of various young persons (example). At his death, both St. Severus and St. Ambrose were granted visions of the angels welcoming him into Heaven with song (example with Severus, example with Ambrose).

    OTHER PORTRAIT TYPES

    On the strength of the story of Martin's welcome into Heaven, he is often portrayed in the clouds accompanied by angels, as in the third picture at right.

    In that picture the saint is also accompanied by a goose. Duchet-Suchaux (232) explains that the goose is traditional fare on St. Martin's day. Bataillard adds that in the early middle ages a fast for Advent began on Novemb
  • Artist Name: Guariento di Arpo (Italian,
  • St. Martin was born

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