Giotto

{{Short description|Italian painter and architect (c. 1267–1337)}}
{{other uses|Giotto (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Giotto di Bondone
| image         = Giotto - Tableau représentant cinq maîtres de la Renaissance florentine (début XVIe siècle ?).JPG
| image_size    = 250px
| caption       = Posthumous portrait of Giotto, made between 1490 and 1550
| birth_name     = Giotto di Bondone
| birth_date     = {{circa|1267}}
| birth_place      = near [[Florence]], [[Republic of Florence]] {{small|(present-day [[Italy|Italian Republic]])}}
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1337|1|8|1267||}}
| death_place    = Florence, Republic of Florence
| nationality   = [[Italians|Italian]]
| field         = [[Painting]], [[fresco]], [[architecture]]
| movement      = {{ubl|[[Gothic art|Late Gothic]]|[[Italian Renaissance painting#Proto-Renaissance|Proto-Renaissance]]}}
| works         = [[Scrovegni Chapel]] frescoes, [[Giotto's Campanile|Campanile]]}}

'''Giotto di Bondone''' ({{IPA-it|ˈdʒɔtto di bonˈdoːne}}; {{circa|1267}}{{efn|The year of his birth is calculated from the fact that [[Antonio Pucci (poet)|Antonio Pucci]], the town crier of Florence, wrote a poem in Giotto's honour in which it is stated that he was 70 at the time of his death. However, the word "seventy" fits into the rhyme of the poem better than any longer and more complex age so it is possible that Pucci used [[artistic license]].<ref name="Sarel"/>}} – January 8, 1337),<ref>"Giotto's date of birth differs widely in the sources, but modern art historians consider 1267 to be the most plausible, although the years up to 1275 cannot be entirely discounted." Wolf, Norbert (2006). ''Giotto di Bondone, 1267–1337: The Renewal of Painting''. Hong Kong: Taschen. p. 92. {{ISBN|978-3822851609}}</ref><ref>{{Britannica|234069}}</ref> known [[mononymously]] as '''Giotto''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|dʒ|ɒ|t|oʊ}} {{respell|JOT|oh}},<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/giotto|title=Giotto|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=June 1, 2019}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|dʒ|i|ˈ|ɒ|t|oʊ|,_|ˈ|dʒ|ɔː|t|oʊ}} {{respell|jee|OT|oh|,_|JAW|toh}})<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160925105746/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/giotto "Giotto"] (US) and {{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Giotto |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303151410/https://www.lexico.com/definition/giotto |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-03-03 |title=Giotto |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Giotto|access-date=June 1, 2019}}</ref> and [[latinisation of names|Latinised]] as '''Giottus''', was an [[List of Italian painters|Italian painter]] and [[architect]] from [[Florence]] during the [[Late Middle Ages]]. He worked during the [[International Gothic|Gothic]] and [[Italian Renaissance painting#Proto-Renaissance painting|Proto-Renaissance]] period.<ref name="100art">{{cite book|last=Hodge|first=Susie|title=Art in Detail: 100 Masterpieces|year=2016|publisher=Thames & Hudson|location=New York|isbn=978-0-500-23954-4|page=10|edition=|quote=He worked during the period described as Gothic or Pre-Renaissance ...}}</ref> 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".<ref name="bartlett 37">Bartlett, Kenneth R. (1992). ''The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance''. Toronto: D.C. Heath and Company. {{ISBN|0-669-20900-7}} (Paperback). p. 37.</ref> [[Giorgio Vasari]] described Giotto as making a decisive break from the prevalent [[Byzantine art|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".<ref name="Vasari">Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Artists'', trans. George Bull, Penguin Classics (1965), pp. 15–36.</ref>

Giotto's masterwork is the decoration of the [[Scrovegni Chapel]], in [[Padua]], also known as the Arena Chapel, which was completed around 1305. The [[fresco]] cycle depicts the [[Life of the Virgin]] and the [[Life of Christ in art|Life of Christ]]. It is regarded as one of the supreme masterpieces of the Early Renaissance.<ref name="Hartt">{{cite book|last=Hartt|first=Frederick|title=Art: a history of painting, sculpture, architecture|pages=503–506|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|year=1989}}</ref>

The fact that Giotto painted the Arena Chapel and that he was chosen by the Commune of Florence in 1334 to design the new [[Giotto's Campanile|campanile]] (bell tower) of the [[Florence Cathedral]] are among the few certainties about his life. Almost every other aspect of it is subject to controversy: his birth date, his birthplace, his appearance, his apprenticeship, the order in which he created his works, whether he painted the famous frescoes in the Upper [[Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi|Basilica of Saint Francis]] in [[Assisi]], and his burial place.

==Early life and career==
[[File:Giotto di Bondone - Legend of St Francis - 5. Renunciation of Wordly Goods - WGA09123.jpg|thumb|alt=One of the ''Legend of St. Francis'' frescoes at Assisi|One of the ''Legend of St. Francis'' frescoes at [[Assisi]], the authorship of which is disputed.]]
Tradition says that Giotto was born in a farmhouse, perhaps at Colle di Romagnano or Romignano.<ref>Sarel Eimerl, see below, cites Colbzs le di Romagnano. However, the spelling is perhaps wrong, and the location referred to may be the site of the present ''Trattoria di Romignano'', in a hamlet of farmhouses in the [[Mugello region]].</ref> Since 1850, a tower house in nearby [[Colle Vespignano]] has borne a plaque claiming the honor of his birthplace, an assertion that is commercially publicized. However, recent research has presented documentary evidence that he was born in Florence, the son of a blacksmith.<ref>Michael Viktor Schwarz and Pia Theis, "Giotto's Father: Old Stories and New Documents", ''Burlington Magazine'', 141 (1999), 676–677, and idem, ''Giottus Pictor. Band 1: Giottos Leben'', Vienna, 2004.</ref> His father's name was Bondone. Most authors accept that Giotto was his real name, but may have been an abbreviation of Ambrogio (''Ambrogiotto'') or Angelo (''Angelotto'').<ref name="Sarel">Sarel Eimerl, ''The World of Giotto'', Time-Life Books.</ref>

In his ''[[Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects]]'' Vasari states that Giotto was a shepherd boy, a merry and intelligent child who was loved by all who knew him. The great Florentine painter [[Cimabue]] discovered Giotto drawing pictures of his sheep on a rock. They were so lifelike that Cimabue approached Giotto and asked if he could take him on as an apprentice.<ref name="Vasari"/> Cimabue was one of the two most highly renowned painters of [[Tuscany]], the other being [[Duccio]], who worked mainly in [[Siena]]. Vasari recounts a number of such stories about Giotto's skill as a young artist. He tells of one occasion when Cimabue was absent from the workshop, and Giotto painted a remarkably lifelike fly on a face in a painting of Cimabue. When Cimabue returned, he tried several times to brush the fly off.{{sfn|Eimerl|1967|p=85}} Many scholars today are uncertain about Giotto's training and consider Vasari's account that he was Cimabue's pupil a legend; they cite earlier sources that suggest that Giotto was not Cimabue's pupil.<ref>Maginnis, Hayden B.J., "In Search of an Artist", in Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona, ''The Cambridge Companion to Giotto'', Cambridge, 2004, 12–13.</ref> The story about the fly is also suspect because it parallels [[Pliny the Elder]]'s anecdote about [[Zeuxis (painter)|Zeuxis]] painting grapes so lifelike that birds tried to peck at them.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dalivalle |first1=Antonia |title=Giotto's Fly and the Birth of the Renaissance |url=https://thecultural.me/giottos-fly-and-the-birth-of-the-renaissance-572248 |website=thecultural.me |publisher=Recreyo Ltd. |access-date=20 September 2021 |date=10 May 2019}}</ref>

Vasari also relates that when [[Pope Benedict&nbsp;XI]] sent a messenger to Giotto, asking him to send a drawing to demonstrate his skill, Giotto drew a red circle so perfect that it seemed as though it was drawn using a pair of compasses and instructed the messenger to send it to the Pope.{{sfn|Eimerl|1967|p=106}} The messenger departed ill-pleased, believing that he had been made a fool of. The messenger brought other artists' drawings back to the Pope in addition to Giotto's. When the messenger related how he had made the circle without moving his arm and without the aid of compasses the Pope and his courtiers were amazed at how Giotto's skill greatly surpassed all of his contemporaries.<ref name="Vasari"/>

Around 1290 Giotto married Ricevuta di Lapo del Pela (known as 'Ciuta'), the daughter of Lapo del Pela of Florence. The marriage produced four daughters and four sons, one of whom, Francesco, became a painter.<ref name="Sarel"/><ref>Giotto, and Edi Baccheschi (1969). ''The complete paintings of Giotto''. New York: H.N. Abrams. p. 83. {{OCLC|2616448}}</ref> Giotto worked in Rome in 1297–1300, but few traces of his presence there remain today. By 1301, Giotto owned a house in Florence, and when he was not traveling, he would return there and live in comfort with his family. By the early 1300s, he had multiple painting commissions in Florence.{{sfn|Eimerl|1967|p=106}}
The [[Archbasilica of St. John Lateran]] houses a small portion of a fresco cycle, painted for the [[Jubilee (Christian)|Jubilee]] of 1300 called by [[Boniface VIII]]. He also designed the ''[[Navicella (mosaic)|Navicella]]'', a mosaic that decorated the facade of [[Old St Peter's Basilica]]. In this period Giotto also painted the ''[[Badia Polyptych]]'', now in the [[Uffizi]], Florence.<ref name="Vasari"/>

Cimabue went to [[Assisi]] to paint several large frescoes at the new [[Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi]], and it is possible, but not certain, that Giotto went with him. The attribution of the fresco cycle of the ''Life of St. Francis'' in the Upper Church has been one of the most disputed in art history. The documents of the Franciscan Friars that relate to artistic commissions during this period were destroyed by [[Napoleon]]'s troops, who stabled horses in the Upper Church of the Basilica, so scholars have debated the attribution to Giotto. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it was convenient to attribute every fresco in the Upper Church not obviously by Cimabue to the better-known Giotto, including those frescoes now attributed to the [[Master of Isaac]]. In the 1960s, art experts [[Millard Meiss]] and [[Leonetto Tintori]] examined all of the Assisi frescoes, and found some of the paint contained white lead—also used in Cimabue's badly deteriorated ''[[:File:Cimabue 016.jpg|Crucifixion]]'' (c.&nbsp;1283). No known works by Giotto contain this medium. However, Giotto's panel painting of the ''[[Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (Giotto)|Stigmatization of St. Francis]]'' (c.&nbsp;1297) includes a motif of the saint holding up the collapsing church, previously included in the Assisi frescoes.{{sfn|Eimerl|1967|pp=95, 106–07}}

The authorship of a large number of panel paintings ascribed to Giotto by Vasari, among others, is as broadly disputed as the Assisi frescoes.<ref>Maginnis, "In Search of an Artist", 23–28.</ref> According to Vasari, Giotto's earliest works were for the Dominicans at [[Santa Maria Novella]]. They include a fresco of ''The Annunciation'' and an enormous suspended ''Crucifix'', which is about {{convert|5|m|abbr=off}} high.<ref name="Vasari"/> It has been dated to about 1290 and is thought to be contemporary with the Assisi frescoes.<ref>In 1312, the will of Ricuccio Pucci leaves funds to keep a lamp burning before the crucifix "by the illustrious painter Giotto". Ghiberti also cites it as a work by Giotto.</ref> Earlier attributed works are the ''San Giorgio alla Costa Madonna and Child'', now in the [[Diocesan museum|Diocesan Museum]] of [[Santo Stefano al Ponte]], Florence, and the signed panel of the ''Stigmatization of St. Francis'' housed in the [[Louvre]].
[[File:Giotto. the-crucifix-1310-17. 430х303 cm. Rimini, Tempio Malatestiano.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=The ''Crucifixion'' altarpiece at Tempio Malatestiano Rimini |The ''Crucifixion'' of [[Rimini]]]]
An early biographical source, [[Riccobaldo of Ferrara]], mentions that Giotto painted at Assisi but does not specify the ''St Francis Cycle'': "What kind of art [Giotto] made is testified to by works done by him in the Franciscan churches at Assisi, Rimini, Padua..."<ref>Sarel. A. Teresa Hankey, "Riccobaldo of Ferraro and Giotto: An Update", ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', 54 (1991), 244.</ref> Since the idea was put forward by the German art historian {{ill|Friedrich Rintelen|de|Friedrich Rintelen (Kunsthistoriker)}} in 1912,<ref>Rintelen, Friedrich, ''Giotto und die Giotto-apokryphen'' (1912).</ref> many scholars have expressed doubt that Giotto was the author of the Upper Church frescoes.
Without documentation, arguments on the attribution have relied upon connoisseurship, a notoriously unreliable "science",<ref>See, for example, Richard Offner's famous article of 1939, "Giotto, non-Giotto", conveniently collected in James Stubblebine, ''Giotto:  The Arena Chapel Frescoes'', New York, 1969 (reissued 1996), 135–155, which argues against Giotto's authorship of the frescoes. In contrast, Luciano Bellosi, ''La pecora di Giotto'', Turin, 1985, calls each of Offner's points into question.</ref> but technical examinations and comparisons of the workshop painting processes at Assisi and Padua in 2002 have provided strong evidence that Giotto did not paint the ''St. Francis Cycle''.<ref>Zanardi, Bruno, ''Giotto e Pietro Cavallini: La questione di Assisi e il cantiere medievale della pittura a fresco'', Milan, 2002; Zanardi provides an English synopsis of his study in Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona, ''The Cambridge Companion to Giotto'', New York, 2004, 32–62.</ref> There are many differences between it and the Arena Chapel frescoes that are difficult to account for within the stylistic development of an individual artist. It is now generally accepted that four different hands are identifiable in the Assisi St. Francis frescoes and that they came from Rome. If this is the case, Giotto's frescoes at Padua owe much to the naturalism of the painters.<ref name="Sarel"/>

Giotto's fame as a painter spread. He was called to work in [[Padua]] and also in [[Rimini]], where there remains only a ''Crucifix''  painted before 1309 and conserved in the [[Tempio Malatestiano|Church of St. Francis]].<ref name="Vasari"/> It influenced the rise of the Riminese school of [[Giovanni Baronzio|Giovanni]] and [[Pietro da Rimini]]. According to documents of 1301 and 1304, Giotto by this time possessed large estates in Florence, and it is probable that he was already leading a large workshop and receiving commissions from throughout Italy.<ref name=Sarel/>

==Scrovegni Chapel==
[[File:Giotto - Scrovegni - -31- - Kiss of Judas.jpg|thumb|left|Kiss of Judas, [[Scrovegni Chapel]]]]
Around 1305, Giotto executed his most influential work, the interior frescoes of the [[Scrovegni Chapel]] in [[Padua]] that in 2021 were declared [[UNESCO World Heritage]] together with other 14th-century fresco cycles in different buildings around the city centre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1623|title=Padua's fourteenth-century fresco cycles, UNESCO declaration|author=|website=UNESCO|language=en|access-date=15 August 2021}}</ref> [[Enrico degli Scrovegni]] commissioned the chapel to serve as family worship, burial space<ref>See the complaint of the Eremitani monks in James Stubblebine, ''Giotto:  The Arena Chapel Frescoes'', New York, 1969, 106–107 and an analysis of the commission by Benjamin G. Kohl, "Giotto and his Lay Patrons", in Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona, ''The Cambridge Companion to Giotto'', Cambridge, 2004, 176–193.</ref> and as a backdrop for an annually performed [[mystery play]].<ref>Schwarz, Michael Viktor, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41418713?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "Padua, its Arena, and the Arena Chapel: a liturgical ensemble"], in ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', Vol. 73, 2010, 39–64.</ref>

The theme of the decoration is [[Salvation]], and there is an emphasis on the [[Virgin Mary]], as the chapel is dedicated to the [[Annunciation]] and to the Virgin of Charity. As was common in church decoration of medieval Italy, the west wall is dominated by the ''[[Last Judgement]]''. On either side of the chancel are complementary paintings of the angel [[Gabriel]] and the Virgin Mary, depicting the Annunciation. The scene is incorporated into the cycles of ''The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary'' and ''The Life of Christ''. Giotto's inspiration for ''The Life of the Virgin'' cycle was probably taken from ''[[Golden Legend|The Golden Legend]]'' by [[Jacobus de Voragine]] and ''The Life of Christ'' draws upon the ''[[Meditations on the Life of Christ]]'' as well as the Bible. The frescoes are more than mere illustrations of familiar texts, however, and scholars have found numerous sources for Giotto's interpretations of sacred stories.<ref>Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona, ''The Usurer's Heart: Giotto, Enrico Scrovegni, and the Arena Chapel in Padua'', University Park, 2008; Laura Jacobus, ''Giotto and the Arena Chapel: Art, Architecture and Experience'', London, 2008; Andrew Ladis, ''Giotto's O: Narrative, Figuration, and Pictorial Ingenuity in the Arena Chapel'', University Park, 2009.</ref>

Vasari, drawing on a description by [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], a friend of Giotto's, says of him that "there was no uglier man in the city of Florence" and indicates that his children were also plain in appearance. There is a story that [[Dante]] visited Giotto while he was painting the Scrovegni Chapel and, seeing the artist's children underfoot asked how a man who painted such beautiful pictures could have such plain children. Giotto, who according to Vasari was always a wit, replied, "I make my pictures by day, and my babies by night."<ref name=Vasari/>{{sfn|Eimerl|1967|p=106}}

===Sequence===
The cycle is divided into 37 scenes, arranged around the lateral walls in three tiers, starting in the upper register with the story of [[St. Joachim]] and [[St. Anne]], the parents of the Virgin, and continuing with her early life. The life of Jesus occupies two registers. The top south tier deals with the lives of Mary's parents, the top north with her early life and the entire middle tier with the early life and miracles of Christ. The bottom tier on both sides is concerned with the [[Passion of Jesus Christ|Passion of Christ]]. He is depicted mainly in profile, and his eyes point continuously to the right, perhaps to guide the viewer onwards in the episodes. The kiss of Judas near the end of the sequence signals the close of this left-to-right procession. Below the narrative scenes in colour, Giotto also painted allegories of seven Virtues and their counterparts in monochrome grey (''grisaille''). The ''grisaille'' frescoes are painted to look like marble statues that personify Virtues and Vices. The central allegories of ''Justice'' and ''Injustice'' oppose two specific types of government: peace leading to a festival of Love and tyranny resulting in wartime rape.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Kérchy|editor1-first=Anna|editor2-last=Liss|editor2-first=Attila|editor3-last=Szönyi|editor3-first=György E.|title=The Iconology of Law and Order (Legal and Cosmic)|date=2012|publisher=JATEPress|location=Szeged|isbn=978-963-315-076-4}}</ref> Between the narrative scenes are quatrefoil paintings of [[Old Testament]] scenes, like [[Jonah and the Whale]], that allegorically correspond to and perhaps foretell the life of Christ.

Much of the blue in the frescoes has been worn away by time. The expense of the [[ultramarine]] blue pigment used required it to be painted on top of the already-dry fresco (''[[fresco secco|a secco]]'') to preserve its brilliance. That is why it has disintegrated faster than the other colours, which were painted on wet plaster and have bonded with the wall.<ref>Wolf, Norbert (2006). ''Giotto''. Hong Kong; Taschen. p. 34. {{ISBN|3822851604}}.</ref> An example of the decay can clearly be seen on the robe of the Virgin, in the fresco of the ''Nativity''.

===Style===
Giotto's style drew on the solid and classicizing sculpture of [[Arnolfo di Cambio]]. Unlike those by Cimabue and Duccio, Giotto's figures are not stylized or elongated and do not follow Byzantine models. They are solidly three-dimensional, have faces and gestures that are based on close observation, and are clothed, not in swirling formalized drapery, but in garments that hang naturally and have form and weight. He also took bold steps in foreshortening and having characters face inwards, with their backs towards the observer, creating the illusion of space. The figures occupy compressed settings with naturalistic elements, often using forced [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]] devices so that they resemble stage sets. This similarity is increased by Giotto's careful arrangement of the figures in such a way that the viewer appears to have a particular place and even an involvement in many of the scenes.  That can be seen most markedly in the arrangement of the figures in the ''Mocking of Christ'' and ''[[Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ)|Lamentation]]'' in which the viewer is bidden by the composition to become mocker in one and mourner in the other.
[[File:Compianto sul Cristo morto.jpg|thumb|''[[Lamentation of Christ|Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ)]]'', Scrovegni Chapel]]

Giotto's depiction of the human face and emotion sets his work apart from that of his contemporaries. When the disgraced Joachim returns sadly to the hillside, the two young shepherds look sideways at each other. The soldier who drags a baby from its screaming mother in the ''Massacre of the Innocents'' does so with his head hunched into his shoulders and a look of shame on his face. The people on the road to Egypt gossip about Mary and Joseph as they go. Of Giotto's realism, the 19th-century English critic [[John Ruskin]] said, "He painted the Madonna and St. Joseph and the Christ, yes, by all means... but essentially Mamma, Papa and Baby".<ref name=Sarel/>

Famous narratives in the series include the ''[[Adoration of the Magi]]'', in which a comet-like [[Star of Bethlehem]] streaks across the sky. Giotto is thought to have been inspired by the 1301 appearance of [[Halley's comet]], which led to the 1986 [[space probe]] ''[[Giotto mission|Giotto]]'' being named after the artist.

==Mature works==
[[File:Giotto di Bondone 050 lighter.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Details of figures from the ''Raising of Drusiana'' in the Peruzzi Chapel]]
Giotto worked on other frescoes in Padua, some now lost, such as those that were in the [[Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua|Basilica of St. Anthony]]<ref>The remaining parts (''Stigmata of St. Francis'', ''Martyrdom of Franciscans at Ceuta'', ''Crucifixion'' and ''Heads of Prophets'') are most likely from assistants.</ref> and the [[Palazzo della Ragione, Padua|Palazzo della Ragione]].<ref>Finished in 1309 and mentioned in a text from 1350 by [[Giovanni da Nono]]. They had an astrological theme, inspired by the ''Lucidator'', a treatise famous in the 14th century.</ref>
Numerous painters from northern Italy were influenced by Giotto's work in Padua, including [[Guariento]], [[Giusto de' Menabuoi]], [[Jacopo Avanzi]], and [[Altichiero]].

From 1306 from 1311 Giotto was in Assisi, where he painted the frescoes in the transept area of the Lower Church of the Basilica of St. Francis, including ''The Life of Christ'', ''Franciscan Allegories'' and the Magdalene Chapel, drawing on stories from ''the Golden Legend'' and including the portrait of Bishop Teobaldo Pontano, who commissioned the work. Several assistants are mentioned, including Palerino di Guido. The style demonstrates developments from Giotto's work at Padua.<ref name=Sarel/>

In 1311, Giotto returned to Florence.  A document from 1313 about his furniture there shows that he had spent a period in Rome sometime beforehand. It is now thought that he produced the design for the famous [[Navicella (mosaic)|''Navicella'']] mosaic for the courtyard of the [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]] in 1310, commissioned by Cardinal Giacomo or [[Jacopo Stefaneschi]] and now lost to the Renaissance church except for some fragments and a [[Baroque]] reconstruction. According to the cardinal's [[necrology]], he also at least designed the ''[[Stefaneschi Triptych]]'' (c.&nbsp;1320), a double-sided altarpiece for St. Peter's, now in the [[Vatican Pinacoteca]]. It shows St Peter enthroned with saints on the front, and on the reverse, Christ is enthroned, framed with scenes of the [[martyrdom]] of Saints Peter and Paul. It is one of the few works by Giotto for which firm evidence of a commission exists.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gardner|first=Julian|year=1974|title=The Stefaneschi Altarpiece: A Reconsideration|journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes|volume=37|pages=57–103|doi=10.2307/750834|jstor=750834|s2cid=195043668}}</ref> However, the style seems unlikely for either Giotto or his normal Florentine assistants so he may have had his design executed by an ''ad hoc'' workshop of Romans.<ref>White, 332, 343</ref>

The cardinal also commissioned Giotto to decorate the apse of St. Peter's Basilica with a cycle of frescoes that were destroyed during the 16th-century renovation. According to Vasari, Giotto remained in Rome for six years, subsequently receiving numerous commissions in Italy, and in the Papal seat at [[Avignon]], but some of the works are now recognized to be by other artists.

In Florence, where documents from 1314 to 1327 attest to his financial activities, Giotto painted an altarpiece, known as the ''[[Ognissanti Madonna]]'', which is now on display in the Uffizi, where it is exhibited beside Cimabue's ''Santa Trinita Madonna'' and [[Duccio]]'s ''[[Rucellai Madonna]]''.<ref name=Sarel/> The Ognissanti altarpiece is the only panel painting by Giotto that has been universally accepted by scholars, despite the fact that it is undocumented. It was painted for the church of the Ognissanti (all saints) in Florence, which was built by an obscure religious order, known as the Humiliati.<ref>''La 'Madonna d'Ognissanti' di Giotto restaurata'', Florence, 1992; Julia I. Miller and Laurie Taylor-Mitchell, "The ''Ognissanti Madonna'' and the Humiliati Order in Florence", in ''The Cambridge Companion to Giotto'', ed. Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona, Cambridge, 2004, 157–175.</ref> It is a large painting (325 x 204&nbsp;cm), and scholars are divided on whether it was made for the main altar of the church, where it would have been viewed primarily by the brothers of the order, or for the choir screen, where it would have been more easily seen by a lay audience.<ref>Julian Gardner, "Altars, Altarpieces and Art History: Legislation and Usage", in ''Italian Altarpieces, 1250–1500'', ed. Eve Borsook and Fiorella Gioffredi, Oxford, 1994, 5–39; Irene Hueck, "Le opere di Giotto per la chiesa di Ognissanti", in ''La 'Madonna d'Ognissanti' di Giotto restaurata'', Florence, 1992, 37–44.</ref>
[[File:Giotto, 1267 Around-1337 - Maestà - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Ognissanti Madonna]]'' ({{Circa|1310}}). Tempera on wood, {{convert|325|x|204|cm|in|lk=out|abbr=off}} [[Uffizi]], Florence]]

He also painted around the time the ''Dormition of the Virgin'', now in the Berlin {{Lang|de|[[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin|Gemäldegalerie]]|italic=no}}, and the ''Crucifix'' in the [[Church of Ognissanti, Florence|Church of Ognissanti]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11695349 Duncan Kennedy, ''Giotto's Ognissanti Crucifix brought back to life''], BBC News, 2010-11-05. Accessed 2010-11-07</ref>

[[File:Giotto, Lower Church Assisi, Nativity 01.jpg|thumb|The Nativity in the Lower Church, Assisi]]

===Peruzzi and Bardi Chapels at Santa Croce===
According to [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]], Giotto painted chapels for four different Florentine families in the [[Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze|church of Santa Croce]], but he does not identify which chapels.<ref>Ghiberti, ''I commentari'', ed. O Morisani, Naples, 1947, 33.</ref> It is only with Vasari that the four chapels are identified: the [[Bardi family|Bardi]] Chapel (''Life of St. Francis''), the [[Peruzzi|Peruzzi Chapel]] (''Life of St. John the Baptist'' and ''St. John the Evangelist'', perhaps including a polyptych of ''Madonna with Saints'' now in the Museum of Art of [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]], [[North Carolina]]) and the lost Giugni Chapel (''Stories of the Apostles'') and the Tosinghi Spinelli Chapel (''Stories of the Holy Virgin'').<ref>Giorgio Vasari, ''Le vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori Italiani'' ed. G. Milanesi, Florence, 1878, I, 373–374.</ref> As with almost everything in Giotto's career, the dates of the fresco decorations that survive in Santa Croce are disputed. The Bardi Chapel, immediately to the right of the main chapel of the church, was painted in true fresco, and to some scholars, the simplicity of its settings seems relatively close to those of Padua, but the Peruzzi Chapel's more complex settings suggest a later date.<ref>L. Tintori and E. Borsook, ''The Peruzzi Chapel'', Florence, 1965, 10; J. White, ''Art and Architecture in Italy'', Baltimore, 1968, 72f.</ref>
[[File:Giotto. Peruzzi Altarpiece 1310-15.North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh.jpg|thumb|Giotto, Peruzzi Altarpiece, c.1322, North Carolina Museum of Art]]
The Peruzzi Chapel is adjacent to the Bardi Chapel and was largely painted ''[[a secco]]''. The technique, quicker but less durable than a true fresco, has left the work in a seriously-deteriorated condition. Scholars who date the cycle earlier in Giotto's career see the growing interest in architectural expansion that it displays as close to the developments of the giottesque frescoes in the Lower Church at Assisi, but the Bardi frescoes have a new softness of colour that indicates the artist going in a different direction, probably under the influence of Sienese art so it must be later.<ref>C. Brandi, ''Giotto'', Milan, 1983, 185–186; L.Bellosi, ''Giotto'', Florence, 1981, 65, 71.</ref>

The Peruzzi Chapel pairs three frescoes from the life of [[St. John the Baptist]] (''The Annunciation of John's Birth to his father Zacharias; The Birth and Naming of John; The Feast of Herod'') on the left wall with three scenes from the life of [[St. John the Evangelist]] (''The Visions of John on Ephesus''; ''The Raising of Drusiana''; ''The Ascension of John'') on the right wall. The choice of scenes has been related to both the patrons and the [[Franciscans]].<ref>Tintori and Borsook; Laurie Schneider Adams, "The Iconography of the Peruzzi Chapel". ''L’Arte'', 1972, 1–104. (Reprinted in Andrew Ladis ed., ''Giotto and the World of Early Italian Art'' New York and London, 1998, 3, 131–144); Julie F. Codell, "Giotto's Peruzzi Chapel Frescoes: Wealth, Patronage and the Earthly City", ''Renaissance Quarterly'', 41 (1988), 583–613.</ref>  Because of the deteriorated condition of the frescoes, it is difficult to discuss Giotto's style in the chapel, but the frescoes show signs of his typical interest in controlled naturalism and psychological penetration.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Long|first=Jane C.|title=Parallelism in Giotto's Santa Croce Frescoes|date=2011|work=Push Me, Pull You|pages=327–353|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004215139|doi=10.1163/9789004215139_032|chapter=11. Parallelism in Giotto's Santa Croce Frescoes}}.</ref> The Peruzzi Chapel was especially renowned during Renaissance times. Giotto's compositions influenced [[Masaccio]]'s frescos at the [[Brancacci Chapel]], and Michelangelo is also known to have studied them.

The Bardi Chapel depicts the life of [[Francis of Assisi|St. Francis]], following a similar iconography to the frescoes in the Upper Church at Assisi, dating from 20 to 30 years earlier. A comparison shows the greater attention given by Giotto to expression in the human figures and the simpler, better-integrated architectural forms.  Giotto represents only seven scenes from the saint's life, and the narrative is arranged somewhat unusually. The story starts on the upper left wall with ''St. Francis Renounces his Father.'' It continues across the chapel to the upper right wall with the ''Approval of the Franciscan Rule'', moves down the right wall to the ''Trial by Fire'', across the chapel again to the left wall for the ''Appearance at Arles'', down the left wall to the ''Death of St. Francis'', and across once more to the posthumous ''Visions of Fra Agostino and the Bishop of Assisi.''  The ''Stigmatization of St. Francis'', which chronologically belongs between the ''Appearance at Arles'' and the ''Death'', is located outside the chapel, above the entrance arch. The arrangement encourages viewers to link scenes together: to pair frescoes across the chapel space or relate triads of frescoes along each wall. The linkings suggest meaningful symbolic relationships between different events in St. Francis's life.<ref>The concept of such linkings was first suggested for Padua by Michel Alpatoff, "The Parallelism of Giotto's Padua Frescoes", ''Art Bulletin'', 39 (1947) 149–154. It has been tied to the Bardi Chapel by Jane C. Long, "The Program of Giotto’s Saint Francis Cycle at Santa Croce in Florence", ''Franciscan Studies'' 52 (1992) 85–133, and William R. Cook, "Giotto and the Figure of St. Francis", in ''The Cambridge Companion to Giotto'', ed. A. Derbes and M. Sandona, Cambridge, 2004, 135–156.</ref>
[[File:Campanile di giotto 11.JPG|thumb|alt=Campanile di Giotto|[[Campanile di Giotto]] (Florence)]]

==Later works and death==
[[File:Dante-alighieri.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Giotto's portrait of Dante Alighieri left-facing profile with red cape and cap|Engraving after a portrait of [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] by Giotto]]
In 1328, the altarpiece of the [[Baroncelli Chapel]], [[Santa Croce, Florence]], was completed. Previously ascribed to Giotto, it is now believed to be mostly a work by assistants, including [[Taddeo Gaddi]], who later frescoed the chapel.<ref>Giotto, Andrew Martindale, and Edi Baccheschi (1966). ''The Complete Paintings of Giotto''. New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 118. {{OCLC|963830818}}.</ref> The next year, Giotto was called by King [[Robert of Anjou]] to [[Naples]] where he remained with a group of pupils until 1333. Few of Giotto's Neapolitan works have survived: a fragment of a fresco portraying the ''Lamentation of Christ'' in the church of [[Santa Chiara, Naples|Santa Chiara]] and the ''Illustrious Men'' that is painted on the windows of the Santa Barbara Chapel of [[Castel Nuovo]], which are usually attributed to his pupils. In 1332, King Robert named him "first court painter", with a yearly pension. Also in this time period, according to Vasari, Giotto composed a series on the Bible; scenes from the [[Book of Revelation]] were based on ideas by Dante.{{sfn|Eimerl|1967|p=158}}

After Naples, Giotto stayed for a while in [[Bologna]], where he painted a Polyptych for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and, according to some sources, a lost decoration for the Chapel in the Cardinal Legate's Castle.<ref name="Vasari"/>
In 1334, Giotto was appointed chief architect to [[Florence Cathedral]]. He designed the bell tower, known as [[Giotto's Bell Tower|Giotto's Campanile]], begun on July 18, 1334.  After Giotto's death three years later, [[Andrea Pisano]] and finally [[Francesco Talenti]] took over the tower's construction, completed in 1359 and not entirely to Giotto's design.<ref name=Sarel/>
Before 1337, he was in [[Milan]] with [[Azzone Visconti]], but no trace of works by him remains in the city. His last known work was with assistants' help: the decoration of Podestà Chapel in the [[Bargello]], Florence.<ref name=Sarel/>

Giotto appears in the writings of many contemporary authors, including Boccaccio, [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] and [[Franco Sacchetti]]. Sacchetti recounted the likely fictional incident in which a civilian commissioned Giotto to paint a shield with his [[coat of arms]]; Giotto instead painted the shield "armed to the teeth", complete with a sword, lance, dagger, and suit of armor. He told the man to "Go into the world a little, before you talk of arms as if you were the Duke of Bavaria", and in response was sued. Giotto countersued and won two florins.{{sfn|Eimerl|1967|p=135}} In ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', [[Dante]] acknowledged the greatness of his living contemporary by the words of a painter in [[Purgatorio]] (XI, 94–96): "Cimabue believed that he held the field/In painting, and now Giotto has the cry,/ So the fame of the former is obscure."<ref name=Hartt/> Giotto died in January 1337.

==Burial and legacy==
According to Vasari,<ref name=Vasari/> Giotto was buried in the Cathedral of Florence, on the left of the entrance and with the spot marked by a white marble plaque. According to other sources, he was buried in the Church of [[Santa Reparata (Florence)|Santa Reparata]]. The apparently-contradictory reports are explained by the fact that the remains of Santa Reparata are directly beneath the Cathedral and the church continued in use while the construction of the cathedral proceeded in the early 14th century.

During an excavation in the 1970s, bones were discovered beneath the paving of Santa Reparata at a spot close to the location given by Vasari but unmarked on either level. Forensic examination of the bones by anthropologist [[Francesco Mallegni]] and a team of experts in 2000 brought to light some evidence that seemed to confirm that they were those of a painter (particularly the range of chemicals, including [[arsenic#pIgments|arsenic]] and [[Lead paint|lead]], both commonly found in paint, which the bones had absorbed).<ref name=IOL>[http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/technology/theory-about-old-master-gets-the-brush-off-1.41760 IOL], September 22, 2000.</ref> The bones were those of a very short man, little over four feet tall, who may have suffered from a form of [[Achondroplasia|congenital dwarfism]]. That supports a tradition at the Church of Santa Croce that a dwarf who appears in one of the frescoes is a self-portrait of Giotto. On the other hand, a man wearing a white hat who appears in the ''Last Judgement'' at Padua is also said to be a portrait of Giotto. The appearance of this man conflicts with the image in Santa Croce, in regards to stature.<ref name=IOL/>

Forensic reconstruction of the skeleton at Santa Reperata showed a short man with a very large head, a large hooked nose and one eye more prominent than the other. The bones of the neck indicated that the man spent a lot of time with his head tilted backwards. The front teeth were worn in a way consistent with frequently holding a brush between the teeth. The man was about 70 at the time of death.<ref name=IOL/> While the Italian researchers were convinced that the body belonged to Giotto and it was reburied with honour near the grave of [[Filippo Brunelleschi]], others have been highly sceptical.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Critics slam Giotto burial as a grave mistake | agency = Sapa-AP  | publisher = Independent Online | work = Business Report | date = 8 January 2001 | url = https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/technology/critics-slam-giotto-burial-as-a-grave-mistake-57918 }}</ref> Franklin Toker, a professor of art history at the University of Pittsburgh, who was present at the original excavation in 1970, says that they are probably "the bones of some fat butcher".<ref>{{Cite news | title = Skeleton riddle threatens Giotto's reburial | last = Johnston | first = Bruce | work = Telegraph.co.uk | date = 6 January 2001 | access-date = 23 March 2018 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1313505/Skeleton-riddle-threatens-Giottos-reburial.html }}</ref>

==References==
'''Footnotes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book |last=Eimerl |first=Sarel |others=et al |title=The World of Giotto: c. 1267–1337 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldofgiottoc1200eime |url-access=registration |publisher=Time-Life Books |year=1967 |isbn=0-900658-15-0 }}
* Previtali, G. ''Giotto e la sua bottega'' (1993)
* Vasari, Giorgio. ''Le vite de più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti'' (1568)
* — —. ''Lives of the Artists'', trans. George Bull, Penguin Classics (1965), {{ISBN|0-14-044164-6}}
* [[John White (art historian)|White, John]]. ''Art and Architecture in Italy, 1250 to 1400'', London, Penguin Books, 1966, 2nd edn 1987 (now Yale History of Art series). {{ISBN|0140561285}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* Bistoletti, Sandrina Bandera  ''Giotto: catalogo completo dei dipinti'' (I gigli dell'arte; 2) Cantini, Firenze, 1989. {{ISBN|88-7737-050-5}}.
* [[Giuseppe Basile|Basile, Giuseppe]] (a cura di), ''Giotto: gli affreschi della Cappella degli Scrovegni a Padova'', Skira, Milano, 2002. {{ISBN|88-8491-229-6}}.
* [[Luciano Bellosi|Bellosi, Luciano]], ''La pecora di Giotto'', Einaudi, Torino, 1985. {{ISBN|88-06-58339-5}}.
* de Castris, Pierluigi Leone, ''Giotto a Napoli'', Electa Napoli, Napoli 2006. {{ISBN|88-510-0386-6}}.
* [[Bruce Cole|Cole, Bruce]], ''Giotto and Florentine Painting, 1280–1375''. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. {{ISBN|0-06-430900-2}}.
* Cole, Bruce, ''Giotto: The Scrovegni Chapel, Padua''. New York: George Braziller, 1993. {{ISBN|0-8076-1310-X}}.
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Giotto | volume= 12 |last1= Colvin |first1= Sidney |author1-link= Sidney Colvin | pages = 34&ndash;37 |short=1}}
* Derbes, Anne and Sandona, Mark, eds., ''A Cambridge Companion to Giotto''. Cambridge University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-521-77007-1}}.
* Flores D'Arcais, Francesca, ''Giotto''. New York: Abbeville, 2012. {{ISBN|0789211149}}.
* [[Chiara Frugoni|Frugoni, Chiara]], ''L'affare migliore di Enrico. Giotto e la cappella degli Scrovegni'' (Saggi; 899). Einaudi, Torino, 2008. {{ISBN|978-88-06-18462-9}}.
* Gioseffi, Decio, ''Giotto architetto'', Edizioni di Comunità, Milano, 1963.
*Giotto the Painter. Vol. 1: Life (with a Collection of the Documents and Texts up to Vasari and an Appendix of Sources on the Arena Chapel), by [[Michael Viktor Schwarz]] and Pia Theis with Andreas Zajic and Michaela Zöschg; Vol. 2: Works, by Michael Viktor Schwarz; Vol. 3: Survival (Works and Practices up to Michelangelo), by Michael Viktor Schwarz, Böhlau, Vienna 2023. {{ISBN| 978-3205217015 }}.
* Gnudi, Cesare, ''Giotto'' (I sommi dell'arte italiana), Martello, Milano, 1958.
* [[Andrew Ladis|Ladis, Andrew]], ''Giotto's O: Narrative, Figuration, and Pictorial Ingenuity in the Arena Chapel'', Pennsylvania State University Press,  University Park, Pennsylvania, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0271034072}}.
* [[Millard Meiss|Meiss, Millard]], ''Giotto and Assisi'', New York University Press, 1960.
* [[Giuliano Pisani|Pisani, Giuliano]]. ''I volti segreti di Giotto. Le rivelazioni della Cappella degli Scrovegni'', [[RCS MediaGroup|Rizzoli]], Milano 2008; Editoriale Programma, 2015, pp.&nbsp;1–366, {{ISBN|978-8866433538}}.
* [[John Ruskin|Ruskin, John]], ''Giotto and His Works in Padua'', London, 1900 (2nd edn, 1905).
* Tintori, Leonetto, and Meiss, Millard, ''The Painting of the Life of St. Francis in Assisi, with Notes on the Arena Chapel'', New York University Press, 1962.
* [[Osvald Sirén|Sirén, Osvald]], ''Giotto and Some of His Followers'' (English translation by Frederic Schenck). Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.), 1917.
* Wolf, Norbert, ''Giotto di Bondone, 1267–1337: The Renewal of Painting''. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2006. {{ISBN|978-3-8228-5160-9}}.

{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Giotto di Bondone}}
<!-- Note: while reproductions of Giotto's paintings at external websites are valuable, attributions may be misleading. Any website that shows, ''without question'', the frescoes of the ''Upper Church'' of St. Francis of Assisi as being the work of Giotto, is ignoring modern scholarship on the matter. Any website that claims Giotto was placed in charge of the decoration of the ''Upper Church'' or was selected as the "most suitable" artist for its decoration is making a claim based on lack of evidence. -->
* [http://www.wga.hu/html/g/giotto/index.html Page at Web Gallery of Art]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927191504/http://www.aiwaz.net/gallery/giotto-di-bondone/gc20 Giotto in Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery]

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