By: Olga Rukovets and Maria SanchezPeraza

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He was not handsome, said Petrarch.
Giotto di Bondone
By Olga Rukovets and Maria Sanchez-Peraza
1267-1337
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Early Life

• Born, about 1266, in Vespignano, near Florence
• Father- small land farmer
• first period of his artistic life, commissions
  only from religious authorities (Franciscan
  Order)
• No history of early years
• 1280, supposedly started studying under Cimabue
• No surviving painting documented as being by him
• Earliest workBasilica of San Francesco dAssisi

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Known Works

• Worked for Bardi's and Peruzzi's, wealthy
  Florentines
• Worked in the basilica of Sant'Antonio and made
  frescoes for Scrovegni Chapel
• Decorated the tribune of St. Peter's and the
  polyptych that is preserved today in the
  Pinacoteca Vaticana in Rome
• Head of bottega (studio)had collaborators
• 1334, Florence honored Giotto with title of
  Magnus Magister (Great Master)
• 1337 (January 8) Giotto dies in Florence

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A Real Renaissance Man

• Very versatilesculptor, painter, and architect
• Famous in his own time, and even became rich
• Started humanism in art
• Lacked technical knowledge
• Respected by Renaissance contemporaries
• In those times, figurative art rose again to its
  natural force with Giotto. Dante
• Broke all links with Middle Ages?foundations of
  modern painting
• Of new merchant and entrepreneur class

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Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata

• Part of a series of 28 paintings
• Expresses gentle spirit of St. Francis
• More emphasis on facial expressions than on
  landscape
• Portrayal of St. Francis historically accurate
  and creates likeness between him and Jesus
• Gathers realistic details and combines them with
  a spiritual theme
• Smaller images along bottom present St. Francis
• Strays from Medieval balance and symmetry

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The Lamentation of Christ

• Giotto does not represent the scene as it might
  have happened
• Varied size of figures for spatial purposes
• Realistically portrays grief felt by each figure
• Emphasis on landscape- brings horizon to our eye
  level
• Mary and Jesus as mother and son
• Even the angels are humanized and individualized
• Grieving John the Evangelist as image of
  universal despair

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Influence

• "He converted the art of painting from Greek to
  Latin and brought in the modern era-Cennino
  Cennini
• Credited with creating first images of humanity
• direct approach to human experience
• One of the first to employ vivid colors
• Put depth and perspective into paintings (The
  Lamentation)
• influence on Florentine painting stemmed from his
  ability to bring three-dimensionality to works

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Influence
The angry glare keeps the children and pigeons
away

• Recognized during his time and admired by the
  likes of Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch and Cennini
• Following generation of painters greatly
  influenced by his approach to painting (i.e.,
  Masaccio)
• recognized as first genius of art in the Italian
  Renaissance
• Begun artistic revolution based on
  actuality/reality
• Regarded as founder of central tradition of
  Western painting
• "Once Cimabue thought to hold the field as
  painter Giotto now is all the rage, dimming the
  luster of the other's fame. Dante

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Bibliography
Giotto. Online Available http//www.giotto.com/g
iotto/giotto.html , March 4, 2004. Giotto
1267-1337, Italy. Online Available
www.nelepets.com/art/artists/g/Giottobio.htm ,
March 4, 2004. Giotto di Bondone. The Catholic
Encyclopedia, 2003. Online Available www.newadve
nt.or/cathen/06565a.htm, March 3, 2004. Horing,
Thomas. Greatest Works of Art of Western
Civilization. New York Barnes Noble Books,
1997. Olgas Gallery Giotto. Online Available
http//abcgallery.com/G/giotto/giotto.html ,
March 3, 2004. Pioch, Nicolas. Giotto di
Bondone. Online Available http//www.ibiblio.org
/wm/paint/auth/giotto/ , March 3, 2004. Sporre,
Dennis J. The Creative Impulse An Introduction
to the Arts. New Jersey Prentice Hall, 1993.