GIOVANNI DA MILANO
(active 1350-69, Milano, Firenze)

Birth of the Virgin (north wall, detail)

1365
Fresco
Rinuccini Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence

The two women, one of whom is handing the other a plate of food, draw the viewer's gaze away from the other figures thanks to their clothing, whose elegance is clearly derived from contemporary fashions. The modeling of their delicately shaped faces, slender necks. and bare shoulders has a smoothness almost like porcelain and an enamel-like glaze, and a similar effect is achieved in their garments.