Giotto

Restoration of one of the few portraits of Giotto's face

Giotto di Bondone was nothing less than a genius. 

It's always good to remember that Italy was not always a unified nation and that Giotto was born at 1270 in the Republic of Florence, the cradle of the arts. Giotto was a shepherd boy, a merry and intelligent child who was loved by all who knew him. The great Florentine painter Cimabue discovered Giotto drawing pictures of his lamb on a rock. They were so lifelike that Cimabue approached Giotto and asked if he would like to learn more and if he could take him on as an apprentice. This is an apocryphal story told by the art historian Giorgio Vasari but if Cimabue and Giotto were indeed master and apprentice it is possible to say just by observing the work of both and analyzing the emulations that Giotto was able to understand and perfect. 

Cimabue's Madonna vs Giotto's Madonna

Dante Alighieri, for example, tells us in a passage in the "Purgatory" that Cimabue's fame was overshadowed by that of his young student. Dante met both of them and commissioned the prints of the "Divine Comedy" to both, Cimabue didn't tolerate the criticism and recommendations from Dante and didn't deliver the order. It is Giotto's work that we see on the pages of Dante's Purgatory. It is also worthy to come back saying, as mentioned before, Italy was not a unified kingdom and also didn't have an official language, it was Dante's "Divine Comedy" that unified the Italian language and because of that both Dante and Giotto became real celebrities.

Giotto's "Purgatory" scene

Giotto learned the art of the Florentine frescoes and painted scenes of Christ's life and passages in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua between 1305 and 1313.

Scrovegni Chapel frescoes in Padua. 

But he didn't follow the standards and the repertoire of religious icons, instead he assimilated other genres of painting mainly from the Byzantine art creating an irresistible effect. The characters portrayed by Giotto clearly have embedded psychological traits. This way the scene is more than mere representation, it actually tells a story through emotions, gestures and even vulnerabilities expressed in the individuality of each character.

The Kiss of Judas

A great work to be observed in detail is the Lamentation of Christ which is a fresco painted in the Chapel Arena or Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. 

In the scene the Virgin Mary expresses all the pain for the loss of her son while the disciples lean and suffer the mourning each one on a distinctly and different forms and faces. Above, the angels perform a dramatically and theatrical scene crying and flying in a chaotic way creating contrast of movement compared to the still images of the landscape behind. It's as if they had been surprised and astonished observe the group below. 

Mary Magdalene touches Jesus' feet while the Virgin Mary wraps her arms around his neck and touches her son's chest gently, two other are women holding Christ each by one hand. It is this tactile subtlety that embraces humanity and affection for the whole.

The Lamentation of Christ

"The Lamentation" detail

We know that unfortunately a huge number of great artists were only discovered and recognized after their deaths. This wasn't the case of Giotto who was truly appreciated while alive and even more after death. 

Giovanni Boccaccio said that Giotto's brushstrokes did not only create a similarity but rather confused and confronted reality.

Leonardo da Vinci admired the works of Giotto as having overcome all the masters of antiquity and also his contemporaries.

For Sir John Ruskin - leading English critic of the Victorian era - Giotto achieved mastery because he was more than an apprentice of techniques, he was an observer of everyday life and common people.

In 1334 Giotto was appointed chief architect of the Cathedral of Florence and began the founding of a bell tower in the same year. He did not live to complete the construction but the bell tower was named Giotto's Tower.

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Giotto's Tower - Florence

He spent his last year of life still painting and traveling between Milan and Florence until his death in 1337.

Where to see Giotto's works:

• Cappella degli Scrovegni - Padua, Italy
• National Gallery - London, England
• Uffizi Gallery - Florence, Italy
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - Boston, USA
• Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York, USA
• Cappella Bardi - Florence, Italy
• Cappella Peruzzi - Florence, Italy
• National Gallery of Art - Washington DC, USA