Game of Civettino

Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi, who called lo Scheggia, was the brother of Masaccio and a painter known primarily for cassone panels and decorative works, created this work around 1450, now in the Palazzo Davanzati. This work reflects the artistic culture of Florence during the Early Renaissance, when painters were forging new approaches to representation through the study of perspective, anatomy, and natural light. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting.

Precise tempera technique produces the smooth surfaces and crisp details characteristic of Italian panel painting, with chromatic relationships carefully planned to create visual harmony across the composition.