What Made the Work of Giotto Different From the Other Art of His Time?
The Italian Renaissance is regarded equally one of the most vibrant periods in western art history. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo created highly realistic works that emphasized a renewed interest in anatomy and proportion. To find the goad for this remarkable modify, one has to await back to a painter from the Proto-Renaissance period named Giotto.
At a time when the Byzantine way of flat, stylized compositions dominated Italian republic, Giotto based his art on life. His naturalistic paintings ready the foundation for successors like Botticelli and Michelangelo. Then much and then that Giotto is often regarded every bit the father of the Italian Renaissance, and even the father of European painting.
Here, nosotros explore Giotto'due south mythic life and the development of his naturalist style.
Early Life
Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337) was estimated to take been born around the twelvemonth 1267 nigh Florence. According to myth, Giotto was raised in the countryside as a immature shepherd, where he often drew pictures of sheep on the basis. The story goes that one day, the esteemed Byzantine-way painter Cimabue spotted Giotto'south talent and offered him an apprenticeship.
The Renaissance historian Vasari writes many allegorical examples of Giotto's biggy talent. In i incident, Giotto painted a wing on the wall that was so realistic, Cimabue tried in vain to castor information technology off. In another, Giotto demonstrated his skill to the electric current pope by drawing a perfect circle without the utilize of whatsoever tool. Although the accuracy of these episodes is dubious, information technology is truthful that Giotto'due south skills surpassed his tutor after non too long, and he established himself as a dominant painter.
Cimabue, "Maesta of Santa Trinita," c. 1280-90. (Photograph: Wikimedia Eatables [Public Domain])
The Scrovegni Chapel
Betwixt 1303 and 1310, Giotto produced his well-nigh famous work inside the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. His frescoes were divided into 37 narrative scenes which focused on the theme of Salvation and emphasized the Virgin Mary. He arranged the cycle into 3 tiers on the walls and placed the painting of The Final Judgement on the counterfacade. The entire decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel is unified by Giotto's heavy use of the expensive ultramarine blue—although much of information technology has decayed over time.
Style
Dissimilar his tutor Cimabue, Giotto did not follow the Byzantine style, in which figures were stylized and floating. Instead, he drew from life—imbuing his characters with emotion and realism. Even the figures' wearing apparel have naturalistic mantle. Additionally, Giotto uses foreshortening and forced perspective in many of his compositions, giving a sense of depth to his paintings.
Giotto, "No. 36 Scenes from the Life of Christ: xx. Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ)," c. 1304-1306. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons [Public Domain])
Later Years
Giotto achieved remarkable fame and prestige during his lifetime and traveled to commissions across Italy, including Rome, Naples, and Assisi. In Naples, Giotto was made first court painter by Male monarch Robert with a yearly pension. Eventually, still, Giotto returned to Florence, where he worked until his death in January of 1337.
Giotto, "Ognissanti Madonna," 1310. (Photo: Wikimedia Eatables [Public Domain])
Legacy
Giotto's greatness was not merely renowned among artist circles during his lifetime. He was too immortalized by his contemporary Dante in The Divine Comedy when a painter in Purgatorio (11, 94-96) said: "Cimabue believed that he held the field/In painting, and now Giotto has the weep,/ So the fame of the former is obscure."
The emotion and naturalism of Giotto's painting was highly pop and spurred an increased interest in concepts of realism and perspective that had been fallow since antiquity. Eventually, these humanist interests culminated in the Renaissance, where Giotto'south proper name became legend.
Domenico di Michelino, "Dante and the Divine Comedy," 1465. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons [Public Domain])
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Source: https://mymodernmet.com/giotto-life-and-art/
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