Alex Vergara November 20th, 2017
Kavari Jenkins
Ross White
Xinhao Chen
Professor McHugh
Long History of the Comic Book
The Christ Child in the Temple (1320)
Image:
Basic Info: The painting is made by the Italian Painter, Giotto. He created this painting in Florence in 1320. For this painting he used a panel and tempera medium. The painting was first set up in an art museum in Rome with three other paintings of Giotto in the 1820s. Almost two decades later it was purchased by an English man from London. The painting would move to another English man less than 70 years later. After a short two-year stay with a man called Jean Paul Richter, Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased the painting in 1900. The painting was put in the Isabella Gardner museum in Boston that was made specifically for Gardner’s paintings. The painting still resides in the museum.
Description: It is one of seven paintings from Giotto that depicts the life of Christ. Giotto was asked to paint art that had a theme of salvation and an emphasis in the Virgin Mary for a Chapel in the 1300s. He came up with two cycles of paintings. There was the The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Life of Christ. Giotto created the Life of Christ to depict salvation in Christianity and to help emphasize the importance of the Virgin Mary in Christianity. In this particular painting, it depicts the moment when Jesus is recognized as the savior by Simeon and Anna from Luke’s gospel.
Close Reading:
What: The painting portrays the moment when Simeon and the prophetess Anna recognizes the child as the savior.this took place after the Gospel of Luke where it says,”Mary and Joseph take the baby Jesus to Jerusalem "to present him to the Lord" -Luke 2:22.” It is a biblical story on canvas that spans across the seven paintings of the life of Christ. Each iteration of Giotto’s work seemed different than the last with each action being expressive and each face being an individual.
How: A painting or work of art uses visual composition to tell a story with an idea or a message using imagery to do so. This piece being part of a series of seven depicting an old story of life. As the child struggles to get back into his mother’s arms expresses an idea of human struggle or wanting to obtain something which is very relatable to human behavior. The body language of the people in the painting have their own meaning, the mother holding out her arms for her child to embrace or to receive. The man with the child to give or return the child, all examples of sequential storytelling. The story process was being perceived through the series of images and descriptive body language through the people in the painting.
Why: Ever since the early nineteenth century, the Presentation has been known to be one of a series of seven paintings of the life of Christ. It was used to show the significance of the birth of Jesus Christ. From the time he was born, to becoming the lord and savior of the Catholic Church.
As the holy family entered the temple, Simeon was inspired to meet them, and taking the Child in his arms exclaimed: “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation…” (Luke 2:29-30)
Comparison to a graphic novel: Immediately, the art style and color gradient reminds me strongly of Oldbuck by Topffer. Both instances of art share a commonality of emphasized gestures and stoic facial expressions. In both the Oldbuck comics and The Christ Child in the Temple, they have subject to subject transitions. In Obadiah Oldbuck, the reader has to participate with the comic in order to grasp the comic. In the comic above of Obadiah Oldbuck the reader has to participate to see grasp that after he “struck himself” with the sword he fell down believing he was injured, but got up realizing that he had missed his body completely. The Christ Child in the Temple is similar to Oldbuck because it is in a set and the viewer has to participate in order to keep up with the paintings. The picture is one of seven pictures representing the life of Christ. As the viewer is looking at the set of pictures, they see a similar topic but different scenes, so they have to have the closure of what occurred in the middle of the painting ,similar to Oldbuck.
