Giovanni di Paolo was an early
renaissance Italian artist from
Siena. He is thought to have been active from 1420-82. He was also known as Giovanni di Poggio and Giovanni di Paolo di Grazzia.
Even though perspective was introduced in the 1400's Di Paolo did not use it through out most of his paintings. The only time he used
perspective was with some of his landscapes and even then it was not very acurate. He understood perspective but he couldn't quite grasp how to use it.
His colour schemes were quite modern as he used pastels and bright colours. For example in one of his paintings Madonna della pieta of Madonna and child he opted for painting her robes in Orange with a Green cloak, this was very innovative. She would normally appear in blue robes as it was the most expensive colour and painters wanted to give her the best they could afford.
He painted mainly religious paintings. In the early 1400's religious paintings were commissioned by churches as well as by rich people.
Amongst his most famous paintings are;
John the Baptist going into the wilderness This painting portrays John leaving the city gates. John appears twice in this painting both in the foreground leaving the city and again in the
background walking into some extremely jagged and threatening mountains. However the second time he appears, he has been painted the same size as in the
foreground and therefore appears to be bigger. This was common at the time if it helped to tell the story. Giovanni di Paolo made two of these, one of which can be found in
Chicago and the other in
London. It isn't clear which was painted first, however there are some differences between them. The Chicago one seems more modern and realistic as his city gates are more 3D and his mountains are more rounded and
realistic.
Paradise Again this one is found in the
National Art Gallery in London. The painting shows many
contemporary Florentines of the time from different social classes as well as people from various
religious orders. The people are all meeting somebody, nobody is on their own, and they all seem happy.