Madonna and Child of San Giorgio alla Costa

The Madonna of San Giorgio alla Costa is one of Giotto's most significant early works and a fundamental document in the transformation of Florentine painting at the end of the thirteenth century. The Virgin is shown frontally on a monumental throne, holding the Christ Child on her lap, while two angels stand symmetrically at either side.

Although the composition retains features inherited from Byzantine tradition, including the gold ground, frontal presentation and solemn hierarchy of the figures, Giotto introduces a far more physical and spatial conception of the sacred protagonists. Mary's body has a palpable volume beneath the folds of her mantle and no longer appears merely linear or symbolic. Her figure acquires weight, solidity and monumentality, anticipating solutions that Giotto would develop more fully in later works.