Madonna of Borgo San Lorenzo

The Madonna of Borgo San Lorenzo from around 1290 by Giotto di Bondone is among the earliest works attributed to the revolutionary Florentine painter who transformed Western art. Giotto's break from the flat, hieratic style of Byzantine painting toward a more naturalistic, volumetric approach laid the foundations for the Italian Renaissance. The Gothic era in European painting (c.1200-1400) was dominated by devotional works on gold ground, combining Byzantine formalism with growing Gothic naturalism.

The panel displays Giotto's emerging naturalism in the modeling of the Madonna's form, with a solidity and three-dimensionality that marked a dramatic departure from Byzantine conventions.