La « renaissance » picturale italienne de 1300 et la « révolution » du traitement de l’espace monumental : une prise en compte des expérimentations byzantines

By drawing attention to the frequent anteriority of most of the various processes chosen and implemented in Byzantine environments, from present-day Turkey to Serbia and Sicily, this paper raises a legitimate question. Indeed, the authors suggest that the major protagonists of the Italian pictorial “renaissance” - Giotto and before him Cavallini - were largely dependent on Byzantine experiments in the precise field of architectural representations. These later formed an essential part of the naturalistic framework of the Italian painting “renaissance” from the 1290s. These architectures - previously experienced in several Byzantine paintings and mosaics - contributed greatly to the true spatial depth that plays an essential role in the pictorial programs of what is still presented today by many specialists as an authentic revolution engaging in the paths of modernity.