Giotto Di Bondone Biography | Oil Paintings

One of the founding fathers of the Renaissance, Giotto di Bondone was adored by early observers as the greatest artist since antiquity, and he was all the while impacting painters over a century after his death. His most prominent accomplishment was to free Italian art of the dull stylization deriving from Byzantine painting. The work of Giotto denoted a defining moment in painting style, splitting far from the standards and traditions of centuries-old years old Byzantine convention to acquire a naturalistic, narrative portrayal of scenes and characters.

The Grandfather of the Renaissance.

Giotto di Bondone started work in Assisi, and in the frescoes devoted to the life of St. Francis he portrayed the different scenes in a great degree natural or architectural setting, and with dynamic gatherings of figures, looking to express realities as well as feelings. To accomplish this objective Giotto put figures on various planes, showing them frontally or in profile, as well as with their backs turned. His extraordinary expressive influence was gradually enhanced by new opportunities offered amid the different phases of his long and fruitful career. He brought a significant human notion into art, giving the individual character and a historic role. Each figure has its own particular space and its own volume: consequently, Giotto is thought to be a precursor of Renaissance perspective. The Lamentation, the culminating episode and expressive peak of the Passion, is one of the most important treasures in medieval art, and a decisive moment in the development of painting. Splitting far from the Byzantine convention, Giotto's frescoes outline a more "modern" style, portrayed by a rich and complex symbolic structure and a new special dimension, with which every individual moves and acts.

Faith in Man and in History.

In the process, he became one of the primary Western artists to stamp his own identity on his work. Specifically, Giotto di Bondone showed an unparalleled level of naturalism, both in his capacity to delineate strong three-dimensional structures and in his grasp of human psychology. He was a skilled storyteller, passing on his religious stories with total clarity and straightforwardness.

The points of interest of Giotto's own life are, in any case, a mystery. There is a story that his master, Cimabue, first detected his ability when he saw him as a shepherd boy, drawing a sheep on a section of rock. This is presumably spurious, nonetheless, and the recognizable proof of Giotto's pictures presents even greater problems. The grand frescoes in the Arena Chapel, Padua, are generally referred to as his magnum opus, yet most other attributions are fervently disputed. Indeed, even his three marked altarpieces may just be workshop pieces.

A Little Renaissance Humor...There is a fanciful story of a youthful Giotto painting a fly on the surface of a painting by Cimabue, the seasoned master more than once attempted to brush away.

Art Movement History: Renaissance.
Artists Influencing Giotto di Bondone: Cimabue, Pietro Cavallini.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist.