"Giotto" (1266/7 – January 8, 1337), is really one of the most famous Italian painters in the whole history. He was not just a painter but also an architect, born in Florence in the late Middle Ages. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.
Giotto's contemporary 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 he was given a salary by the Comune of Florence in virtue of his talent and excellence."
His masterpiece is the decoration of the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua, Italy (completed around 1305). This fresco cycle depicts the life of the Virgin and the life of Christ.
Giotto's contemporary 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 he was given a salary by the Comune of Florence in virtue of his talent and excellence."
His masterpiece is the decoration of the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua, Italy (completed around 1305). This fresco cycle depicts the life of the Virgin and the life of Christ.
The Italian artist Dante believed that Giotto was the greatest painter of all times: he wrote in the XI Purgatory song: “Credette Cimabue nella pittura tener lo campo, e ora Giotto il grido, sì che la fama di colui è scura..” (In painting Cimabue thought he held the field - but now it's Giotto has the cry, so that the other's fame is dimmed.) The esteem was mutual as Giotto probably painted Dante together with himself between the blessed in the Scrovegni Chapel.
You can find other important masterpieces painted by Giotto in the Basilica di San Francesco (Basilica Superiore) in Assisi and also in Florence: the Croce of Santa Maria Novella. In the Louvre museum you can find the Stigmate di San Francesco.
Giotto frescoes 'rediscovered' in Florence chapel (BBC video)
You can find other important masterpieces painted by Giotto in the Basilica di San Francesco (Basilica Superiore) in Assisi and also in Florence: the Croce of Santa Maria Novella. In the Louvre museum you can find the Stigmate di San Francesco.
Giotto frescoes 'rediscovered' in Florence chapel (BBC video)