Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) is a renowned Italian artist who is believed to have been born in 1267 near Florence. He is thought to have grown up as a young shepherd in the countryside. While herding, Giotto would draw pictures of sheep on the ground until one day, his drawings attracted the attention of Cimabue, a respected Byzantine-style painter. Cimabue opted to offer him training through which he would nurture his talent. Soon after, it is believed that his skills outshined his teacher, as he proved to be a fine artist and painter (Baker & Hemingway, 2018). Indeed, his historic success was acknowledged by his colleagues. For instance, Dante acclaimed him in a legendary path of The Divine Comedy, noting that he had bested his master, Cimabue. Giotto produced distinctive artworks, which marked the first arty step toward renaissance. For this reason, he is regarded as one of the great pioneers in the world of painting and arts. Giotto contributed greatly to church through his work, his paintings depicted naturalism that captured the attention of his observers.
Despite having been trained and worked under the artists in the medieval era, di Bondone emerged as an artist in his own right. The examples described below provide evidence for Giotto’s revolution of the art world through his groundbreaking painting’s stylishness and skill. Snell (2019) states that Giotto continued to grow and develop the worldly, natural elegance he is known for in the present day. Di Bondone’s style was innovative and exceptional for its time. He progressed definitively away from the fluid, idealistic human figures in the old-fashioned works, creating a new movement of naturalism. He shaped a new art form of naturalism combined with the customary and benighted style of didacticism.
Just as the name suggests, naturalism is a style of painting things precisely as they appear. Naturalism does not give emphasis to simplicity or a lack of ornamentation but on reality. Giotto highly regarded the eminence of “realness” in fine art and was the first painter to watchfully observe people and replicate their expressions, gestures, and movement in the drawing. He relied on realism to convey to the contemporary congregations that the descriptions were true and real and were set up in real places in real-time involving real people (Ruskin, 2018). In the interest of naturalism, Giotto was accustomed to using used exceptionally tight and thick brushstrokes. The thick brushes also presented an element of weight to his painting subjects. He carried on with this drill all through his occupation, and it is manifest from his first work to his last. He simply adhered to the same style and techniques for almost his entire career.
Giotto’s works predominantly involved paintings of religious locations, including churches, chapels, and altars, among others. He painted images that showed stunning and convoluted scenes from the life of Jesus Christ and his followers. His strong influence in the church is depicted through his earliest contemporary and classical works, such as the crucifix painting in the Maestà and Santa Maria Novella previously in San Giorgio alla Costa. He later repeated the painting in Museo Diocesano, both in Florence. Giotto’s strong influence in the church is further revealed through his painting of the scriptural friezes in the upper church of the basilica of San Francesco at Assisi. These original works elevated Giotto because of his mastery of art, particularly in 1290 – 1295, borrowing heavily from his establishment or apprenticeship in Rome. (Cole, 2020). By around the 1290s, di Bondone was hired to paint the series of stories of Saint Francis for a second time in the basilica at Assisi. He was also ordered to put together the inordinate montage of the Navicella at the Vatican in the old Saint Peter’s.
Giotto would later return to Assisi in c. 1300 to paint the Saint Nicholas Chapel in the subordinate church of San Francesco. His later work in the Franciscan church in Rimini remains until today, evidenced by a decorated crucifix by his hand. In c. 1303, di Bondone painted the Betrayal of Christ, showing a black devil on the side of Judas while in receipt of thirty pieces from people planning to torment Jesus Christ (Flanagan, 2021). The painting exemplifies the story of betrayal by Judas at night, signifying darkness and the colluding nature of the narrative. Darkness also signifies Judas’s evil personality and the blatant courageousness of the high priests.
Between 1303 and 1306, Giotto headed to Padua, where he painted the well-known set of paintings in the Scrovegni Chapel. However, today the frescoes seem to be in ruins in the Basilica del Santo and its adjacent chapter building. The resilient, genuine charge of the paintings in Assisi is ennobled and enhanced with rudiments of classical soberness and an enduring poetical vein. To this artistic period, the works belong to the pronounced Maestà now in the Uffizi, Florence. In addition, the paintings in the Magdalene Chapel in the basilica of San Francesco at Assisi seem to be tied together with a text that voices the artist’s existence in the Umbrian city just afore January 1309 (D’Arcais, 2016). It is assumed that there were subsequent renowned paintings, but now only clear wall paintings in the Peruzzi Chapel in Santa Croce, Florence.
Giotto excelled in using space made available to him through careful planning to make the most of the all-important realism and give his observer a feeling of engrossment in the work. Snell (2019) points out that di Bondone organized his themes such that the observer would feel being in the real place in the frescoes themselves. He employed diagonal lines (mainly in the form of heavenly shades of light), horizon lines, and natural features (such as hills, plains, and mountains) to pull attention to the primary impression of the wall painting.
Giotto had a painting talent that Cimabue identified and helped to developed. He later advanced his skills to a level well beyond that of the master. He had evolved to become an independent artist who contributed is acclaimed for his contribution to developing renaissance. He sought to deviate from the old-styled forms of art and relied upon the platform provided by the church to make exceptional paintings across different places of worship in Rome and Florence. He was able to develop his unique style and method that came to be known as naturalism. Through naturalism, Giotto implored on realism in art to attract observers to what he most desired them to see. This pattern is evident in across many painting he did for the church, including the painting in Assisi at the Church of St. Francis, Assisi. In general, Giotto distinguished himself as a renowned sculptor and draftsman.
References
Baker, M., & Hemingway, A. (2018). Art as world making: Critical essays on realism and naturalism (1st ed.). Manchester University Press.
Cole, M. (2020). The life and art of Giotto: Father of the renaissance. My Modern Met. Web.
D’Arcais, F. F. (2016). Giotto (2nd ed.). Abbeville Press.
Flanagan, T. (2021). Baroque naturalism in Benjamin and Deleuze: The art of least distances (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
Snell, M. (2019). Giotto di Bondone: Father of the renaissance. ThoughtCo. Web.
Ruskin, J. (2018). Giotto and his works in Padua (ekphrasis) (Reprint ed.). David Zwirner Books.