Art : Giotto Di Bondone And The Italian Renaissance

The Renaissance occurred in Europe between 1400 and 1600. This event began in Italy during the Medieval period and then expanded to the rest of Europe, marking the start of the Modern age. The Renaissance began in Florence Italy in the 14th century. It was a cultural movement that had an enormous impact in Europe during the early modern period. The Renaissance’s influenced politics, science, literature, art, philosophy, religion, music, and other aspects. Around the 13th century in Italy started the Renaissance’s art influence. Leonardo da Vinci, was known as the "Renaissance man," because of his art masterpieces and his studies in other fields during this time. Italy wasn’t a political concept in the

Art in the early Renaissance began with artists such as Giotto, who was credited with beginning a new style of art that Masaccio had taken up and integrated into his art later in the Renaissance. This specific style, being the use of massive figures, relation of background/landscapes to figures, and visual representation of perspective, was utilized by Masaccio in his frescoes in the Brancacci chapel. Masaccio’s Tribute Money is showing a biblical tale ,as the renaissance was not entirely anti religion, but with subjects that are being made to look realistic through a use of perspective (vanishing point, horizon line, etc,) and it is said that Masaccio's work was said to be “ living, natural, and real”. Artists such as Uccello took this style and adapted it to also make his art more realistic by using figures to show the laws of perspective, while others like Pollaiuolo

“No painter can paint well without a thorough knowledge of geometry” (qtd. in Butterfield 27). The Italian Renaissance is famous for its art which includes unique style of painting and sculpting, however, the Renaissance made significant remark on the use of scientific techniques which also can be considered as the influence of classical ideas. Although, classical ideas were not advanced like in the Renaissance, it provided the foundation for the Renaissance to revive it again. The Italian Renaissance transformed the manner of viewing the arts. Before, most people in Italy were bounded by religious thoughts and beliefs. Renaissance helped people to shift their mind and behavior towards the secular ideas, instead of vague ideology like

Giotto is considered the first artist to be fully immersed in the Renaissance, and the man who truly brought the Renaissance to Florence. He learned from the skills and progress of the artists before him and took their work one step further. By this time, artists were viewed as skilled workers in society, whereas before they had been seen more as craftsmen. It was recognized that creative and intellectual skill were needed to create art, and artists became more educated, prosperous, and prominent in society, and this increased respect allowed the artists to develop their skills further and take greater pride in their work. One of Giotto’s most extensive projects was the Arena Chapel in Padua, which was a series of frescoes lining the walls and ceiling of the chapel. He worked on this for five years, from 1305 to 1310. Giotto was commissioned to paint this chapel by Scrovegni,

Giotto “a forerunner of Italian Renaissance painting" also made his presence in this century. The most famous works of Giotto were completed in Padua and Florence.

Raphael was one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance. Raphael painted and designed many brilliant pieces of work and the stanzas inside the Vatican. He was a master at such necessities of modern art such as depth and perspective and the use of light and shadow, and was the turning point styles of paintings like the use of Madonnas in paintings. Through his short life, Raphael would make some of the most awe-inspiring, beautiful, and influential works of art during the Italian Renaissance.

First, Giotto painted in ways that were against the medieval painting style. This style was dull and stiff. Giotto changed this and showed Jesus as an

The great thing about art, is that there are multiple portrayals of one idea but, the artist’s own personal style allows one to feel something that another may not. Early Renaissance painters, Giotto di Bondone and Duccio di Buoninsegna established their own unique style to depict a biblical scene known as, The Betrayal of Christ. Through a close analysis of each artist’s representation of, The Betrayal of Christ, one is able to compare and contrast the artists own understanding of the scene through their attention to detail, character, and space throughout the painting. When examining these two works, one will have a stronger emotional response towards Giotto’s interpretation rather Duccio’s, due to his methods of handling organization, figures, and space.

A work of art can be judged from very different points of view. There are no outright processes for judging value in art. Artists Caravaggio and Frida Kahlo have their own movement in art and statements. Caravaggio’s artwork focuses on society and culture. On the other hand, Freda Kahlo’s artworks explore her sense of self and culture through a series of self-portraits.

There were many great artists spread across the time of the Renaissance. Some of them were leading the way in new artistic techniques created during the Renaissance, while others used inspiration from a past artisan to establish their own styles and methods. About a century before the art caught on, a Florentine painter by the name of Giotto was the first to break away from the Middle Age style of painting. "Giotto was the towering artistic genius of the 14th century, so far ahead of his time that no other painter approached his level of work for almost a hundred years" (Walker 78). Even though Giotto was ahead, he lacked the awareness of perspective, but he used space, light, and color to create a very strong sense of the human form, along with a storyteller's ability to capture the central moment in a particular scene (Walker 78). One of the important pieces of the revolution that Giotto started was that he established painting as a major art for the next six centuries, and he also founded the method of pictorial experiment through observation (Gardener 568). After Giotto there was a architect that came along in the early

The Renaissance time period was home to many new ideas in art. This includes new artists bringing forth ideas that had yet to be discovered and made popular. New themes and types of art were also being brought forward during this period.

Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), Stigmatization of St. Francis (1300) is a painting that was done in the Bardi Chapel on a fresco wall. Giotto di Bondone’s painting reflected spiritual and emotional concerns that were going on during the 14th century. The current location of Stigmatization of St. Francis is in Paris, France. The painting is a symbol of what love for Christ really is. Giotto’s vision for the painting was to draw incentive from St. Francis who believed that everything in the world revolved around the adoration of nature.

It seems fitting that for more than a century, the popular image of an angel has been that of an angel by Angelico. As historian Pope-Hennessy tells us - "the idiom he evolved has come to be regarded as the natural language of religious painting". (1) The impetus to research Fra Angelico's life comes from a deep respect for religious art . However, having grown up in the Catholic Church, stained glass windows and sculptures of religious figures were more familiar to me than religious paintings. An in-depth look at the life of one of the most familiar Italian artists was very appealing . Angelico's work was very well known in his own day, and throughout the entire Renaissance period it lost

Giotto based most of his artworks off of religious things and stories of the Renaissance time according to an article I read on Giotto di Bondone. The "Lementation of Christ" was made in 1305, this was the time of medieval style workmanship. This canvas was a piece of Giotto's perfect work of art "Scrovengi Chapel" frescoes. In the midst of these gems Giotto challenged the impediments of the two dimensional Byzantine craftsmanship and meandered into a better approach than portray his canvases and make them more sensible looking. Later that style of workmanship would be called Proto-Renaissance painting. Up 'til today this delineation is held in Cappella delgi Scrovegni nell'Arena, Padua,

With the continuous growth of paintings and artists, prestige for art increased dramatically to the point in which religious aspects were shown through landscapes, portraits, and temperas. This then allowed the creation of new styles and mathematical input that manifested everyday life with religious aspects. One such artist was Giovanni Bellini who introduced bright, rich, strong colors into his palette and landscapes that expressed the happiness, calmness, and prosperity that Italy carried throughout the Renaissance. These characteristics and styles of paintings subsequently became a popular Venetian cornerstone. Other important figures in the Italian Renaissance that demonstrated the movement?s ideas through their ingenious paintings and architectural methods were Pier Della Francesca and Leon Battista Alberti. Francesca, who was and expert in mathematics, developed the art form of perspective. Alberti, on the other hand, as an architect developed the pediment which became popular throughout the entire Renaissance. His monasteries and churches depicted many of the religious ideas, as evident in one of his famous works, the Santa Maria Novella. All in all, the use of the common religious themes such as the annunciation, adoration, Crucifixion, and the popular Madonna