In Style Of Gothic

During the later 14th century, International Gothic was the style that dominated Tuscan painting.

It can be seen to an extent in the work of Puerto and Ambrogio Lorenzetti which is marked by a formalized cuteness and grace in the figures, and Late Gothic flexibility in the draperies.

The style is fully developed in the works of Simone Martini and Gentile da Fabriano which have elegance and a richness of detail, and an idealized quality not compatible with the starker realities of Giotto's paintings.

In the early 15th century, bridging the gap between International Gothic and the Renaissance are the paintings of Fra Angelica, many of which, being altarpieces in tempera, show the Gothic love of amplification, gold leaf and brilliant color.

It is in his frescoes at his convent of Santa Marco that Fra Angelica shows himself the artistic disciple of Giotto.

These devotional paintings, which adorn the cells and corridors inhabited by the friars, represent episodes from the life of Jesus, many of them being scenes of the Crucifixion.

They are starkly simple, restrained in color and intense in mood as the artist sought to make spiritual revelations a visual reality.