Giotto di Bondone was one of the greatest Italian painters. He is majorly known as one of the first few artists of the renaissance.
Background
Giotto was born somewhere between 1266 or 1276 in Vespignano, near Florence in Italy. There is not exact information on his birth date. The year of birth has been identified from the town crier who mentioned that Giotto was seventy years of age when he died. Though it is quite possible that he must have round off the age for convenience and hence the exact birth date is not clear.
It is stated that he was the son of Bondone who has been sometimes mentioned to be a peasant or simply in the records as "a person of a good standing." Giotto has been stated to be a shepherd boy who was discovered by the great painter of Florence Cimabue when he saw the boy create a drawing of a sheep on the rock. The drawing was so good that he asked Giotto’s father if he could take Giotto as his student. On the other hand, other stories claim that Giotto was from a good to-do family and his family, when they moved to Florence, sent Giotto to Cimabue to become an apprentice.
Education
Giotto was stated to have studied his art skills under Cimabue who was one of the best painters in the locality then.
Career
It is believed that around 1280, Giotto followed Cimabue to Rome where there was an entire school of great painters. When Cimabue went to Assisi to work on various frescos in the newly constructed Basilica of St. Francis, it is believed that Giotto escorted him though there are no proofs of the action.
"The Fresco of the Life of St. Francis", which is found in the upper church in the Basilica, is mentioned to be the work of Giotto though there are no documents proving that it could happen. Some mention that the works created by Giotto have been put in the shade by his contemporaries because of his young age. Other arguments state that the entire Fresco couldn’t be created by an individual artist and it has to be a group of artist from home who must have worked on it depending on the style that has been used to create the entire sculpture.
Some of the earliest works by Giotto were created at the Santa Maria for the Dominicans. These comprise of frescos of the Annunciation and five meters high crucifix. This has been found to have been created around the year 1290 which can, therefore, be a modern state of the art as compared to the Assisi frescos of the Basilica. Other works by Giotto include the "Madonna and a Child" in the form of a panel which is now available to be seen in the Diocesan Museum of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence, and the "Stigmata of St. Francis", which was created in Pisa but now in Louvre.
Giotto stayed in Rome between 1297 and 1300 but there are very little remnants of his work found there today. There is a part of the fresco to be seen in Laterano house of the Basilica of San Giovanni. This was painted on the occasion of 1300th jubilee celebrated by Bonifice VIII. During this time, Giotto also painted the "Badia Polyptych" which is in Florence today.
Giotto had become a successful painter and was called for his service at many placed including Padua and Rimini. The only work that remains of him in Rumini which was painted before time in 1309 is the "Crucifix" in the Church of St. Francis. The work on the interior of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua was one of the most prominent works performed by Giotto. This work was created and completed between 1303 and 1310 respectively. Enrico degli Scrovegni had agreed to initiate the work in the chapel agreeing to the sins that his father had performed during his lifetime. The building on the outside was very plain while the decorations on the inside were taken up Giotto. Being dedication to Annunciation, the concept of the decoration remained Salvation with a prominence to Virgin Mary. Ordinary to the medieval times, the wall on the west was dedicated to The Judgment Day. The cycle of the Life of Virgin Mary and Life of Christ were placed on the opposite walls. This cycle was divided into 37 different scenes arranged in three tiers.
Prominent panels created by Giotto in his styles include the "Adoration of the Magi" and the "Flight from Egypt", where he had kept his originality persistent. Giotto was successful in presenting a good gesture with a wonderful expression on the faces of the characters which made him different from other painters. The expressions and the emotions of the paintings made them real.
Giotto remained in Assisi between 1306 and 1311 and continued his work on the frescos for the Lower Church. He even had several assistants to work with him on that. In the year 1311, he returned to Florence where he continued his skill of paintings. One of his paintings, the "Ognissanti Madonna" is today put on to display alongside Duccio's "Rucellai Madonna" and Cimabue's "Santa Trinita Madonna" in Uffizi in Florence.
In the year 1320, Giotto had finished his work on the "Stefaneschi Triptych", which is today available in the Vatican Museum. Giotto remained in Rome for the next six years and created wealth through paintings commissions. In the year 1328, he was called by King Robert of Anjou to visit Naples where he stayed until 1333. Some of the remains of the work that still survive at the place include the "Lamentation of Christ" in the church of Santa Chiara. In 1334, Giotto was selected as the chief architect of the Cathedral of Florence and took the post until his death.
The Trial by Fire, St. Francis offers to walk through fire, to convert the Sultan of Egypt
1297
Confirmation of the Rule
1299
Dream of the Palace
1299
Exorcism of the Demons at Arezzo
1299
Miracle of the Crucifix
1299
Pentecost
1299
St. Francis Giving his Mantle to a Poor Man
1299
St. Francis Preaching a Sermon to Pope Honorius III
1299
St. Francis Preaching to the Birds
1299
St. Francis Renounces all Worldly Goods
1299
The Dream of Innocent III
1299
The Miracle of the Spring
1299
The Vision of the Thrones
1299
Vision of the Flaming Chariot
1299
Apparition to Fra Agostino and to Bishop Guido of Arezzo
1300
Ascension of Christ
1300
Canonization of St Francis
1300
Death and Ascension of St. Francis
1300
Dream of St. Gregory
1300
Ecstasy of St. Francis
1300
Madonna and Child
1300
St. Francis Honoured by a Simple Man
1300
St. Francis Mourned by St. Clare
1300
St. Francis of Assisi Preparing the Christmas Crib at Grecchio
1300
St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata
1300
St. Jerome Checking the Stigmata on the Body of St. Francis
1300
St. Paul
1300
Stigmatization of St. Francis
1300
The Apparition at the Chapter House at Arles
1300
The Crucifixion
1300
The Death of the Knight of Celano
1300
The Birth of the Virgin
1300
Badia Polyptych
1302
Christ Before Caiaphas
1305
Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet
1305
The Ascension
1305
The Baptism of Christ
1305
The Dream of Joachim
1305
The Entry into Jerusalem
1305
Religion
Giotto di Bondone created several paintings, panels and frescos in his lifetime. Most of the works were part of the holy churches and cathedral and from the dedication he put into those paintings, it can be clearly indicated that he was a religious person.
Politics
Though there is no information on the views in terms of politics held by Giotto di Bondone, he did spend some time with King Robert and was declared as the ‘first court painter’ and also received a yearly pension, which indicated his support of the country's regime.
Views
Giotto di Bondone, from the quotes he made during his lifetime, stated that he lived his life to the fullest. He spent his life doing what he was best at doing – painting. The paintings that he created displayed realism and true beautiful expressions. In Giotto’s works human beings are the exclusive subject matter, and they act with dedicated passion their parts in the great Christian drama of sacrifice and redemption.
Quotations:
“Every painting is a voyage into a sacred harbour.“
“The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights.“
“The human heart is as a frail craft on which we wish to reach the stars.“
“Take pleasure in your dreams; relish your principles and drape your purest feelings on the heart of a precious lover.“
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
From the remains of the bones retrieved from the paving of Santa Reparata where Giotto is claimed to be buried, it has been found that he was a small man with congenital dwarfism. Some of the friends of Giotto mention that there was no one uglier in Florence than Giotto.
Interests
Painting
Connections
It was in the year 1287 when Giotto was twenty years of age that he got married to Ricevuta di Lapo del Pela. She was also called as "Cuita. They had four daughters and four sons together, and one of them, named Francesco, became a painter in the future.