Art & Architecture - Florence and Tuscany - page 574

GIOTTO DI BONDONE
The 14th-century Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio wrote in Decameron that his fellow Tuscan Giotto
di Bondone (c 1266-1337) was 'a genius so sublime that there was nothing produced by nature…that
he could not depict to the life'.
Boccaccio wasn't the only prominent critic of the time to consider Giotto extraordinary - Giorgio
Vasari was also a huge fan, arguing that Giotto initiated the 'rebirth' ( rinascità or renaissance ) in art.
In his paintings, Giotto abandoned popular conventions such as the three-quarter view of head and
body, and presented his figures from behind, from the side or turning around, just as the story deman-
ded. Giotto had no need for lashings of gold paint and elaborate ornamentation to impress the viewer
with the significance of the subject. Instead, he enabled the viewer to feel the dramatic tension of a
scene through a naturalistic rendition of figures and a radical composition that created the illusion of
depth.
Giotto's important works in Tuscany include an altarpiece portraying the Madonna and Child
among angels and saints in Florence's Uffizi Gallery, a painted wooden crucifix in the Basilica di
Santa Maria Novella and frescoes in the Basilica di Santa Croce. His magnificent Life of St Francis
fresco cycle graces the walls of the upper church of the Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi, Umbria.
Many Renaissance painters included self-portraits in their major works. Giotto didn't, possibly due
to the fact that friends such as Boccaccio described him as the ugliest man in Florence. With friends
like those…