Rhapsodies

Today’s sketch is some details from an Annunciation, at the Seattle Art Museum, by Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi Aka Lo Scheggia, “the Splinter” done in egg tempera , 1440.

I found myself quite taken by this piece. For a long time it’s been very easy for me to write off a lot of medieval art as primitive and backwards simply due to it being very stylized showing little knowledge of anatomy and none regarding perspective. Lately however I’ve been very interested in the craft of art. And when you really start to look at these pieces you start to see exquisite brushwork and skill (especially when you know exactly how tedious tempera is to use.) Lo Scheggia had some serious painting chops.