Giotto, Virtues and Vices: Injustice
Injustice is the only clearly identifiable male figure among the allegories, wearing a distinct facial hair. His eyes are covered — he is blind, and this feature is characteristic to all of the vices at one level or another. Despair is dead altogether and her eyes are closed or downcast, Anger directs her head straight up, with her eyes also closed. Idolatry appears completely blind, Inconstancy and Foolishness look away, and, finally, Envy’s vision is blocked by the symbolical snake. I think that Giotto had imagined the eyes and the gaze as the primary body part and language communicator of human beings; since humans here represent vices, the artist covers and obstructs the windows to the soul to convey the allegorical message of spiritual blindness. In a way, this set of allegories may be considered as a study in psychology, which slowly but surely pushes the religious context out.
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I really like the head gear of the vices: they are much more stylish, original and unusual than those of the virtues. I suppose that by choice of fashion Giotto wished to comment on how inventive people can be in moral faltering, as opposed to the single straight road that leads to virtue. Originality extends further to carefully, with evident premeditation, conceptualized compositions. They are intentionally unbalanced, in a kind of stylization of bad painting practice — a subtle mockery of incompetence, a trace of irony which adds to the general atmosphere of denunciation. I think that that sort of sophistication is necessary when depicting the “bad guys,” as one cannot just dress them in a gown that says “I am evil” — though, these scenes indeed wear the sign. Still, the heartfelt naivete of the virtues transforms into a calculated design, a modification akin to that of resulting from the tasting from the tree of knowledge.
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The allegory of Injustice boasts probably the most complex composition when compared to others. There is the illusory architecture; the double hooked staff and the sword, and the man’s reliance on them; the miniature forest, implying darkness and impenetrability (referring, as Anne Mueller von der Haegen, the author of my book, claims, to the quality of judgment); ultimately, the scene shown at the lower edge is the opposite of the one in Justice (the men are lying, fighting and dismounted). All in all there are several layers that testify on the significance of the theme by their mere multitude. The results of injustice, unlike in other moral defects, directly affect those involved, and hence the wider scope in painterly representation. Simply put, the opposite of Justice requires as much attention from the artist and the viewer. The vices can prove straining to look at, and perhaps intentionally so, — but to give justice to Injustice, it is the most attractive of them all.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 8:12 pm and is filed under Giotto, Religious, Renaissance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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