Giotto di Bondone

Giotto di Bondone (better known as just Giotto, 1267 – January 8, 1337) was an Italian painter and architect. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to and developed the Italian Renaissance.

Giotto's O

According to one story, Pope Benedict XII wanted to employ Giotto, and sent an emissary to visit the artist. The messenger asked Giotto for a drawing he could submit to the pope, to prove the artist's worth. Giotto smiled and took a sheet of paper, dipped his brush in red paint, closed his arm to his side, and with one twist of his wrist he drew a perfect circle freehand. Giotto handed this drawing to the messenger, who stared back in disbelief. "Is this the only drawing I'm to have?" asked the messenger. Giotto answered, "It's more than enough. Send it along and you'll see whether it's understood." Hence the name, Giotto's O.

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Giotto's earliest credited major work is the fresco cycle depicting the life of St. Francis in the Upper Church of the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi though there are some disputes of authorship. The cycle shows the influence on Giotto of Roman Art as well as his attempt to assimilate the prevalent fashion for French Gothic types. According to Vasari Giotto's depiction of St. Francis caused some controversy due to its sculptural nature making the Saint to much of the world. The Crucifixion in Santa Maria Novella in Florence is one of the major early works and clearly distinguishes Giotto's treatment of the subject from that of Cimabue and Duccio.

Related Topics:
St. Francis - Crucifixion - Santa Maria Novella

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Giotto's master work is the Arena Chapel cycle of the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua depicting the life of the Virgin and the passion of Christ completed around 1305. The scheme has 100 major scenes with the heavily sculptural figures set in compressed but naturalistic settings often using forced perspective devices. Giotto's major innovation was to conceive of a painted architectural framework or grisaille using trompe-l'oeil effects that directly influenced Masaccio and in turn Michelangelo in his scheme for the Sistine Chapel. 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 in which Giotto broke many traditions for the depiction of the scene. The scenes from the Passion were much admired by artists of the Renaissance for there concentrated emotional and dramatic force, especially the "Lamentation over the Dead Christ", and studies of the sequence by Michelangelo exist. The "Ognissanti Madonna" now in the Uffizi and the sole surviving major panel work by the artist also dates from this period.

Related Topics:
Cappella degli Scrovegni - Padua - 1305 - Grisaille - Masaccio - Michelangelo - Sistine Chapel - Adoration of the Magi - Star of Bethlehem - Ognissanti Madonna - Uffizi

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At the request of the Pope, Giotto spent ten years in Rome and then was employed by the King of Naples but little work remains from this period. After 1320 Giotto returned to Florence where he completed two fresco cycles and a number of altar pieces for the Church of Santa Croce. Both of the fresco groups were badly damaged though show that in later years Giotto's style had become more ornate perhaps as a response to the emerging International Gothic. In 1334 Giotto was appointed chief architect to Florence Cathedral of which the Campanile bears his name but was not completed to his design. In his final years Giotto became friends with Boccaccio and Sacchetti who feature him in their stories. Giotto died while working on a "Last Judgement" for the Bargello Chapel in Florence including a portrait of Dante.

Related Topics:
International Gothic - Florence Cathedral - Campanile - Boccaccio - Sacchetti - Dante

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Famous works include:

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• the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua;
• the Basilica of S. Francis in Assisi;
• the chapels in Santa Croce, Florence;
• the many polyptychs and crucifixes.