Historical Figure
Giotto
d. 1337
Italian painter and architect (c. 1267–1337)
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Biography
Giotto di Bondone, known mononymously as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic and Proto-Renaissance period. Giotto's contemporary, the banker and chronicler Giovanni Villani, wrote that Giotto was "the most sovereign master of painting in his time, who drew all his figures and their postures according to nature" and of his publicly recognized "talent and excellence". Giorgio Vasari described Giotto as making a decisive break from the prevalent Byzantine style and as initiating "the great art of painting as we know it today, introducing the technique of drawing accurately from life, which had been neglected for more than two hundred years".
Timeline
The story of Giotto, told in moments.
Born near Florence, probably in Vespignano. Son of a farmer. Legend says the painter Cimabue found him as a boy drawing a sheep on a rock so lifelike he took him as an apprentice. The story is probably not true. But Giotto was real.
Completed the Scrovegni Chapel frescoes in Padua. 38 scenes from the lives of Mary and Christ covering every wall. The figures look solid, weighted, emotional. Nothing in European painting had looked like this before.
Painted the Ognissanti Madonna for the Church of All Saints in Florence. The Virgin sits on a throne that occupies real space. You can almost walk behind it. Cimabue's madonnas were flat. Giotto's breathe.
Appointed chief architect of Florence Cathedral and began designing the campanile, the bell tower that still stands beside the Duomo. He designed only the first story before dying. Andrea Pisano and Francesco Talenti finished it.
Artifacts (15)
The Adoration of the Magi
Giotto di Bondone
Saints John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene
Italian, Neapolitan Follower of Giotto
The Adoration of the Magi
Italian, Neapolitan Follower of Giotto
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