Tag : color

Spatial use of colour

Leonardo da Vinci, St. Anne, the Virgin and Child with the Lamb (detail), 1510-13ca   Colour has its own qualities of representation of space not connected to figuration. This is an aspect that Itten himself (Johannes Itten 1888-1967) debated in his essay Art of Colour (1961), but which we would like to exemplify here through the work (1) of an artist, also a lecturer at the Bauhaus like Itten, who deals with the spatial capacities of colour throughout his life. […]

Rhythmic use of color

Simone Martini, Maestà (detail), 1312-15   To give an example of the rhythmic use of colour, we will talk about the famous Maestà (1) by Simone Martini painted in 1312-15. (1) The work has a horizontal course. In the lower part there is the throne on which sits the Madonna and Child and on whose sides are gathered the saints, above them, in the upper part, stands out on the blue background the colored canopy that serves as a cover. […]