Churches in Florernce | The Basilica di Santa Croce

Art in Tuscany | Italian Renaissance painting


[1] The Italian painter, sculptor and architect Giotto di Bondone (known simply as Giotto) was active during the proto-Renaissance era in Padua and Florence. Best known for his humanistic religious frescoes, Giotto - along with the Sienese artist Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319) and Cimabue (1240-1302) - was a key figure in the pre-Renaissance period and is considered one of the founders of fine art painting in Europe. His pictures broke away from the symbolism of Byzantine art and introduced a new naturalism and realism into painting. Although much of his work has been destroyed, his most notable feat was the cycle of fresco paintings in the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua (Arena Chapel) (1304-13). Other major works include his frescoes on the life of Saint Francis at Assisi, and in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels (created after 1320) in the Franciscan church Santa Croce in Florence.
Many of the details of Giotto's life are sketchy and open to controversy, including the date and place of his birth. It is believed that he was born around 1267 in a village called Vespignano, near Florence. His father was a small landowner described as 'a person of good standing' in public records from the time.
Legend has it, the young Giotto was discovered by the renowned Italian painter Cimabue (also known as Benvenuto di Giuseppe) while he was drawing pictures of his father's sheep. Apparently Cimbaue was so impressed he asked the boy's father if he could take him to Florence as an apprentice. However, it is far more probable that Giotto's family were well off enough to move to Florence and send the 12 year old Giotto to Cimbue's studio as an apprentice.
Around a year later Giotto followed Cimabue to Rome where he was introduced to a school of fresco painters, including the famous Pietro Cavallini and the well-known Florentine architect and sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio.
The earliest of Giotto's known works, is believed to be a series of frescos painted on a church at Assisi about the life of St Francis. At a time when realism in art was not yet popular, these frescos were refreshingly realistic and the figures very natural looking. There is some dispute as to whether it is in fact the hand of Giotto, and recent documents have come to light to suggest that the fresco is in fact the work of a group of unnamed proto-Renaissance artists. If this is so, then Giotto's next most celebrated work, the Fresco of Padua, owes much to the naturalism of these painters.

The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua | In about 1305 Giotto painted a series of 38 frescos at the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel in Padua. The frescos illustrate the life of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, and the figures are emotionally expressive and realistic looking. Although Giotto specialized in religious art, he broke from the traditions of Byzantine art (which valued the symbolic approach over realism) by infusing his figure drawing with real-life people, poses and expressions. He also introduced an early form of linear perspective into his painting. Although other artists like Pietro Cavallini had started working in this style, Giotto took it much further and set a new standard for figure painting. The art historian and writer Giorgio Vasari, a biographer of Giotto, wrote many stories about the latter's mastery of drawing. One story told how Pope Boniface VIII sent a messenger to Giotto to request samples of his work. As a response, Giotto dipped his brush into red paint and in one continuous stroke painted a perfect circle. He told the messenger to take the circle back to the Pope and that it's worth would be recognised. When the pope received the circle, according to Vasari, he 'instantly perceived that Giotto surpassed all other painters of his time'.

Giotto's reputation as a painter quickly grew, as did his commissions. By 1301 documents show he owned several large estates in Florence (apparently he was a good saver!) and that his workshop had become a leading studio in Italy. But in spite of his fame and demand for his services, no painting survives to this day that is documented by him. There is a certain measure of agreement that Giotto painted frescos at four chapels at the Sta Croce in Florence and the Bardi Chapel. Some of the frescos are in bad condition, as they were whitewashed in the 18th century, but despite this, remain impressive to this day. Several panel paintings on the Stefaneschi Altarpiece at the Vatican bear Giotto's signature, but it believed that this is just a trademark confirming it came from his workshop, rather than a signature of his personal work. On the other hand, the Ognissanti Madonna, c.1315 (Uffizi Gallery) is not signed, but the work is such a grandiose spectacular that it is universally accepted as Giotto's.

Sometime between 1303 and 1310 Giotto executed his most influential work, the painting of a series of 37 scenes at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Famous panels in the series include The Adoration of the Magi, in which a comet-like Star of Bethlehem streaks across the sky, and the Flight from Egypt. The 19th century English critic John Ruskin said of Giotto's realism 'He painted the Madonna and St. Joseph and the Christ, yes, by all means ... but essentially Mamma, Papa and Baby'. In 1311 Giotto returned to Florence where he executed a work of mosaic art for the facade of the old St. Peter's Basilica and now lost except for some fragments. Remaining frescos from his later years show that Giotto's style had become more ornate, which perhaps reflected the new International Gothic style, which was emerging in Europe.
Revered by this time - even by the more conservative Sienese School of painting - as one of the great new innovative artists, Giotto was honored with the title of Magnus Magister (Great Master) in 1334 by the city of Florence and was appointed city architect and superintendent of public works. During this time he designed the famous campanile (bell tower) on St Peters Square, but died before the work was completed. He last known completed work is the decoration of Podestà Chapel in the Bargello, Florence.

Giotto died in January 1337, but there is some controversy over the exact location of his grave. In 1970, bones were discovered underneath the paving of the Church of Santa Reparta (where his biographer claims he was buried). Forensic examination confirms that they were the bones of a painter (a range of chemicals including arsenic and lead, both commonly found in paint, were discovered in the bones). The front teeth were worn in such as way as to be consistent with holding a brush between the teeth. A reconstruction of the skeleton shows a man with a very large head, large crooked nose and one eye more prominent than the other. The bones were of a small man, only about 4 foot tall who suffered from a form of dwarfism. This would be consistent with a picture in one of the frescos at the church of Santa Croce of a dwarf-like figure which is supposed to be a self portrait of Giotto. His biographer, who was a friend of Giotto, says 'there was no uglier man in the city of Florence'. The body was reburied with honour near the grave of the Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi.
Although Giotto lacked technical knowledge of anatomy and perspective that painters in futures year were to learn, he had grasped something far more important. He grasped human emotion, and was able to portray this is a powerful and meaningful way. He managed to convey, stress, soul-searching, grief and joy through his paint brush, and it was this gift he passed onto future masters of Renaissance art such as Mantegna, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, Giusto de'Menabuoi, Jacopo Avanzi, Titian and Altichiero. Italian painter Cennino Cennini wrote in about 1400 that `Giotto translated the art of painting from Greek to Latin.'
[2] The Cambridge companion to Giotto, Giotto, By Anne Derbes, Mark Sandona.

Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence