Giotto

NAME Giotto di Bondone

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Giotto is celebrated as the father of European painting and one of the first artists to break away from the rigid, stylized forms of Byzantine art. He is most famous for his frescoes in the Arena Chapel (Cappella Scrovegni) in Padua, which depict over 100 scenes from the lives of Jesus and Mary in an astonishingly naturalistic and human style. His work marked the beginning of the Italian Renaissance in visual art.

BIRTH Giotto's exact birth date remains disputed among historians. Most sources suggest he was born around 1266-67 or 1276. The discrepancy stems from different historical accounts: Antonio Pucci's poem of 1373 states Giotto was 70 when he died in 1337, implying birth in 1266-67, while Giorgio Vasari gives 1276 as his birth year. Recent documentary evidence suggests he was born in Florence to a blacksmith named Bondone, though tradition long held he was born in the village of Vespignano near Florence.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Giotto came from humble origins. His father was Bondone, described in surviving public records as "a person of good standing". Early biographers described his father as a poor peasant, but more recent research suggests Bondone was actually a blacksmith living in the Santa Maria Novella quarter of Florence. This challenges the traditional narrative of Giotto's extremely humble rural origins, though his family was still of modest means compared to the aristocratic classes of the time.

CHILDHOOD Little is definitively known about Giotto's childhood, with most accounts being legendary rather than historically verified. According to Giorgio Vasari's famous but possibly apocryphal story, Giotto was a shepherd boy who tended his father's sheep. The legend states that while watching his flock, he would draw pictures of the animals on rocks and stones with a sharp stone. It was during one of these pastoral moments that the renowned painter Cimabue supposedly discovered him sketching a sheep so realistically that he was amazed and asked to take the boy as an apprentice.

EDUCATION Giotto's artistic education began as an apprentice to the Florentine painter Cimabue around 1272, when he was approximately 10 years old. His apprenticeship in Cimabue's workshop lasted around a decade, during which he learned the fundamental techniques of painting, including how to make paintbrushes and art tools, mix pigments from minerals, and work on drawings and small parts of paintings. 

Around 1280, he traveled with Cimabue to Rome to study at a prestigious school of fresco painters. This Roman period was crucial to his artistic development, exposing him to the works of Pietro Cavallini and other masters who influenced his evolving style.

CAREER RECORD Giotto's career spanned over four decades and took him across Italy. 

1290s: He established his own workshop in Florence and likely contributed to the famous frescoes of the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, though this is a subject of scholarly debate.

c. 1303–1306: He painted his undisputed masterpiece, the fresco cycle of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, depicting the lives of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

1297–1300, and later: Giotto worked in Rome, where he created the Navicella mosaic for Old St. Peter's Basilica (now heavily restored).

c. 1320s: He executed the fresco cycles in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.

1328–1333: Giotto worked at the court of King Robert of Anjou in Naples.

1334: He was appointed chief architect of the Florence Cathedral and superintendent of public works, a testament to his fame and esteem. He designed the famous campanile (bell tower), which is still known today as Giotto's Tower.

APPEARANCE Giotto was described by his contemporaries as being short, stocky and unattractive.  Giorgio Vasari described him as "the ugliest man in the city of Florence". Giovanni Boccaccio wrote in the Decameron that Giotto was of "proverbial ugliness". 

When anthropologists exhumed remains believed to be his in 2000, they found evidence suggesting he may have been a four-foot dwarf. His physical appearance was likely influenced by his rural peasant origins, where deformities were more common due to harsh living conditions. (1)

Imaginary portrait of Giotto, made posthumously between 1490 and 1550

FASHION As a successful artist who achieved considerable wealth and social status, Giotto would have dressed in the style of a prominent Florentine man of his time, likely in fine quality fabrics, but without extravagant ornamentation.

One anecdote from Boccaccio describes him and a lawyer friend riding to Vespignano when caught in rain, borrowing peasant cloaks and hats, which led to a humorous exchange about appearances. This suggests that despite his success, Giotto remained unpretentious about his dress and was comfortable in modest attire when practical circumstances required it.

CHARACTER  Giotto was known for his wit, intelligence, and sense of humor. He was a practical joker and a clever conversationalist. Literary figures like Boccaccio and Dante, who knew him personally, characterized him as a sage and insightful individual.

Contemporary sources describe him as modest despite his fame, maintaining connections to his rural roots throughout his life. 

SPEAKING VOICE Giotto was quick, sharp, and humorous in conversation, which made him a favorite at court. He was an entertaining speaker who could engage audiences across social classes, from peasants in his native village to the royal court of Naples.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Giotto was famous for his sharp wit and practical jokes. The writer Boccaccio included several anecdotes in his Decameron that showcase Giotto's cleverness and ability to deliver witty retorts.

The famous story of him painting a fly so lifelike on one of Cimabue's works that his master tried to brush it off demonstrates his playful nature. 

When King Robert of Naples asked him to paint a symbol of his kingdom, Giotto painted a donkey wearing royal regalia, sniffing at another royal saddle on the ground, explaining "Such are your subjects... Every day they seek a new master". 

RELATIONSHIPS Giotto di Bondone was married to Ricevuta di Lapo del Pela (known as "Ciuta"), the daughter of Lapo del Pela of Florence. The marriage took place in Florence in 1287 when Giotto was about 20 years old. 

The marriage was happy and produced eight children: four sons and four daughters. Their eldest son Francesco became a painter and managed the family property when Giotto traveled. Daughter Caterina married the painter Ricco di Lapo.

Giotto maintained important friendships with intellectual figures of his time, including the poet Dante Alighieri, who praised him in the Divine Comedy. 

He enjoyed patronage relationships with powerful figures including Pope Benedict XI, King Robert of Naples, and wealthy banking families like the Scrovegni.

MONEY AND FAME  Giotto was possibly the first artist since antiquity to achieve celebrity status comparable to ancient Greek and Roman masters. By 1301-1304, documents show he owned large estates in Florence and was leading a substantial workshop receiving commissions from across Italy. In Naples, King Robert granted him "all the privileges enjoyed by members of the royal household" and promised to make him "the first man in the realm". 

As chief of Florence Cathedral works, he received a salary of 100 golden florins. His success allowed him to purchase additional properties and maintain both urban and rural residences.

FOOD AND DRINK As a Florentine craftsman, Giotto would have eaten a typical Tuscan diet of bread, olive oil, beans, cured meats, cheeses and wine.

Sacchetti relates how Giotto, riding with friends to San Gallo, fell when a pig ran between his legs. He commented wryly, "After all, the pigs are quite right... when I think how many thousands of crowns I have earned with their bristles without ever giving them even a bowl of soup!".  (2)

ARTISTIC CAREER It’s not often a medieval shepherd boy ends up revolutionizing the history of Western art, but then again, there was never anyone quite like Giotto di Bondone. Born around 1267 in a Tuscan backwater with more sheep than people, Giotto did the improbable and, frankly, the impossible: he made flat, haloed saints look like actual human beings. Before Giotto, religious figures in art floated around like divine stickers, emotionless and unfathomably golden. After Giotto, they wept, hugged, staggered, collapsed, and looked—well—like us. Only holier.

Legend (which is always the best part of any biography, even if completely untrue) tells us that young Giotto was discovered by the artist Cimabue while drawing sheep on rocks. This might sound unimpressive until you realise that drawing sheep well is extraordinarily difficult. They’re all fluff and confusion. Cimabue, recognizing actual talent—or perhaps just desperate for an assistant who didn’t talk much—swept Giotto off to Florence and taught him the ropes: how to grind pigments, slap them on wet plaster, and generally make saints look vaguely ethereal.

By the 1290s, Giotto was let loose on real churches. At Assisi, in the Upper Church of San Francesco, Giotto (or at least someone suspiciously talented) painted scenes so startlingly lifelike that people might have fainted just looking at them. Figures had weight. Faces had expressions. You could tell who was sad and who was just deeply unimpressed.

One of Giotto's Legend of St. Francis frescoes at Assisi, 

Then came Florence, and the “Crucifix” at Santa Maria Novella—a hulking piece of wood that made Christ look, for the first time, like someone actually in pain. Again, a novel idea.

In Rome, around 1300, he tried his hand at mosaics, sticking tiny colored tiles into the “Navicella” in St. Peter’s Basilica—an image of St. Peter walking on water that looked so spatially convincing, you could practically hear the splash. Bits of it survive, though as with all things medieval, most of it has been "lovingly" destroyed over the centuries.

But it was in Padua, from 1303 to 1306, that Giotto fully unleashed his genius, smearing astonishing things across every inch of the Arena Chapel (also known as the Scrovegni Chapel, depending on how pedantic your tour guide is). In just two years, he painted over 100 scenes from the lives of Mary and Jesus, giving them so much emotion and humanity that viewers still come away blinking. He used space and light in a way no one had before. People looked like they might breathe. Or trip.

Giotto’s Christ on the cross, for example, wasn’t just symbolic. He hung. He sagged. He hurt. This wasn’t just radical—it was nearly blasphemous to some viewers who preferred their Messiahs stiff and regal.

Giotto's Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ), Scrovegni Chapel

Back in Florence in the 1320s, Giotto painted the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels in Santa Croce with the same psychological flair. Then he was off to Naples, summoned by King Robert of Anjou, who no doubt thought having the most famous painter in Italy would spruce things up nicely. Giotto was treated like a star, which he sort of was.

By 1334, he had racked up enough fame that Florence named him chief architect of its cathedral. His most lasting contribution? A bell tower—Giotto’s Campanile—which, like most things in Florence, is both ornate and slightly larger than necessary. He didn’t live to see it finished, of course, but when has that ever stopped Italians from naming buildings after people?

Giotto’s true genius lay in breaking from the rigid, floaty, golden style of Byzantine painting. He gave saints hips. He gave them grief. He planted them in buildings that obeyed the rules of perspective—centuries before anyone had even written those rules down. His storytelling was clear and dramatic, perfect for a mostly illiterate audience that nonetheless loved a good visual sob.

He ran a successful workshop, trained loads of followers, and spread this new realism like butter across Italy. And if his name isn’t always on the tip of your tongue like Leonardo or Michelangelo, it should be—because they all got it from him.

Even in his own time, Giotto was a celebrity. Dante name-dropped him. Boccaccio praised him. Popes commissioned him. Kings hosted him. He died in 1337, likely in Florence, and was buried with all the reverence due to a man who could make plaster cry.

Today, you can still walk into chapels and churches across Italy, crane your neck, and see his brushwork: tender, daring, startlingly alive. All from a shepherd boy with a good eye for sheep.

MUSIC AND ARTS  Giotto’s deep interest in the arts extended to architecture and possibly design. 

Giotto lived during a rich period of artistic cross-pollination. His friendship with Dante indicates his appreciation for literature and poetry. His theatrical approach to visual storytelling in frescoes demonstrates understanding of dramatic arts. His artistic innovations influenced not just painting but the broader cultural Renaissance that would follow.

LITERATURE Giotto's friendship with Dante Alighieri placed him at the center of the era's intellectual life. Dante praised him in Purgatory, writing: "Cimabue believed that he held the field in painting, and now Giotto has the cry, so the fame of the former is obscure". 

Giovanni Boccaccio, another contemporary literary figure, wrote extensively about Giotto in the Decameron, describing him as "the best painter in the world". 

Petrarch also mentioned Giotto's work, 

Some sources mention he wrote poetry, including "a song against Voluntary Poverty" that criticized monastic hypocrisy while expressing his own aversion to poverty. (2)

NATURE Giotto's relationship with nature was fundamental to his artistic revolution. Unlike his Byzantine predecessors who used stylized, symbolic representations, Giotto drew from direct observation of the natural world. He was among the first artists to incorporate realistic landscapes and skies into his work, using them to enhance the emotional content of his narratives.

His landscapes in the Scrovegni Chapel show familiar Italian hills, meadows, and houses rather than abstract gold backgrounds. He painted animals with remarkable accuracy, including sheep, birds, and other creatures that appeared in his religious narratives.

Gotto Birth of Jesus Scrovegni Chapel

PETS Giotto's legendary background as a shepherd suggests intimate familiarity with sheep and other farm animals. His accurate depiction of various animals in his frescoes - from sheep to birds to fish - demonstrates close observation that suggests either personal experience with these creatures or deep appreciation for their forms and behaviors.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Aside from painting, there are no records of leisure activities. His wit and conversation suggest he enjoyed storytelling and socializing.

The anecdotes about his riding expeditions with friends indicate he participated in the social activities of his class. 

SCIENCE AND MATHS Giotto made significant contributions to the mathematical understanding of perspective in art, though he lacked formal training in mathematical theory. He intuitively understood how to represent three-dimensional space on two-dimensional surfaces, working hard on representing depth and examining his pictures chronologically shows clear development in spatial understanding. His innovations in perspective and proportion laid groundwork for the more mathematically precise techniques developed during the High Renaissance. 

According to Giorgio Vasari and other biographers, when Pope Benedict XI wanted to select the best artist to decorate St. Peter’s in Rome, he sent a messenger to collect sample drawings from Italy’s leading painters. When the messenger arrived at Giotto’s studio and requested such a sample, Giotto is said to have taken a sheet of paper and, in one sweeping motion, drew a flawless, freehand circle using only a brush—without a compass or any mechanical aid. He handed the messenger this simple drawing, who thought the gesture odd and pressed for a more elaborate example. Giotto replied that the circle was all that was needed: “It is enough and more than enough to show you what manner of man I am.”

When the circle was shown to the Pope and his advisers, they recognized that no one but a master could draw so perfect a form without mechanical help. The phrase “the Giotto’s O” became proverbial in Italy as a symbol of effortlessness masking true genius—a simple act executed with supreme mastery. Giotto's perfect circle drawn freehand demonstrated his exceptional spatial and geometric intuition.

Image by Perplexity

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY You get the feeling, don’t you, that Giotto would have been rather bad at polite religious conversation. The sort of man who, when someone said “Byzantine art has a certain transcendent aloofness,” would nod politely and then go home to paint Jesus actually crying. Not a vague golden icon of theoretical sadness, but a Jesus who’d clearly just lost someone He loved. And Mary—oh, Mary—who, in Giotto’s world, had cheekbones, and opinions, and deep, ordinary grief.

It all fits rather snugly, really, with the Franciscan lot, who were doing their best to drag Christ down out of the clouds and into the mud with the rest of us. They wanted saints who got blisters, not halos. They were big on suffering and simplicity, and probably would have loved a good chat over lentil soup with someone like Giotto.

At Assisi, in the Upper Church of San Francesco, Giotto—or someone very much like him—painted St. Francis looking startlingly like a person you might accidentally sit next to on a quiet bench and end up telling your whole life story. It’s all very human, very close. And in Padua, the Scrovegni Chapel is filled with frescoes so rich in love and loss and bafflement that you feel slightly guilty for looking, like you’ve walked in on something private. The Virgin Mary isn’t an icon—she’s a mother. The angels aren’t ornamental—they’re bereft. It’s all very beautiful and rather uncomfortable in the best possible way.

Giotto Adoration of The Magi. Scrovegni Chapel

Now, was Giotto a lay Franciscan? Hard to say. No documents, no official signatures. But frankly, it doesn’t matter much. If it walks like a Franciscan, paints like a Franciscan, and gets grumpy about monks who own too many robes—it probably is, spiritually speaking, a Franciscan. Giotto worked for them, with them, and in places they loved, and his paintings hum with the kind of radical empathy that St. Francis would have liked enormously.

Of course, Giotto wasn’t always theologically tidy. In the Virtues and Vices series in the Scrovegni Chapel, he put Hope after Charity, which, if you’re the sort of person who arranges your theological virtues alphabetically—or canonically—might cause you some distress. He also wrote a poem grumbling about Voluntary Poverty, which shows that while he admired the saints, he wasn’t quite ready to give up dinner.

And really, who could blame him? He painted God weeping for humanity and didn’t see the point of pretending poverty was always noble. A bit of bread, a roof over your head, and maybe a wall or two to paint on—that was enough. Which, come to think of it, might be more Franciscan than anything else.

POLITICS Giotto navigated the complex political landscape of 14th-century Italy through his patronage relationships. He worked for both secular and religious authorities, including Pope Boniface VIII, King Robert of Naples, and powerful banking families. 

His commissions often reflected the political needs of his patrons - the Scrovegni Chapel served partly as atonement for the family's usury business. His work in Assisi for the Franciscan Order occurred during internal tensions within the Order and conflicts over papal policy regarding poverty. 

As a Florentine citizen, he lived through the tumultuous period of Guelf and Ghibelline conflicts.

SCANDAL The most significant controversy surrounding Giotto involves the attribution of the St. Francis frescoes at Assisi. This scholarly debate, lasting centuries, concerns whether Giotto painted the famous cycle depicting the life of St. Francis or whether they were created by an otherwise unknown "Master of the St. Francis Legend". The controversy stems from stylistic differences between these works and his universally accepted Scrovegni Chapel frescoes. More recently, a painting attributed to Giotto became embroiled in legal controversy when its export from Italy was disputed, leading to complex international litigation. (3) 

MILITARY RECORD  As an artist and civilian, Giotto lived during a period of frequent conflicts between Italian city-states but appears to have remained focused on his artistic career. The 14th century preceded the establishment of regular standing armies, and military service was typically based on feudal obligations related to land ownership, which would not have applied to Giotto as a professional artist.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Giotto's health was generally good throughout most of his career, allowing him to maintain an active schedule of travel and work across Italy. However, analysis of remains believed to be his showed evidence of arsenic and lead poisoning, chemicals associated with paint, suggesting occupational health hazards. His short stature and possible dwarfism may have presented physical challenges. He died suddenly in January 1337, though the exact cause of death is unknown and believed to be from natural causes. (1)

HOMES Giotto maintained multiple residences reflecting his success and mobility. In Florence, he succeeded to Cimabue's house and shop in the Via del Cocomero. He also inherited and expanded property at his ancestral home in Vespignano in Val Mugello, where his family primarily lived. This country estate included the farmhouse where he was born, and he was known to enjoy returning there for respite from urban life. His daughters married local men from Vespignano, and one son became a parish priest there, indicating the family's continued connection to their rural roots.

TRAVEL Giotto's career required extensive travel throughout Italy and possibly beyond. He worked in Florence, Assisi, Rome, Padua, Naples, Bologna, Rimini, and Milan. Some sources suggest he may have worked in Avignon, France. His travels were primarily for artistic commissions, moving between major urban centers where wealthy patrons required his services. 

In his later years, the Florentine government required him to obtain permission before leaving the city, demonstrating both his value to Florence and his continued desire to work elsewhere.

DEATH Giotto died on January 8, 1337, in Florence at approximately age 70. The exact cause of death is unknown but is believed to have been from natural causes. He fell suddenly ill shortly after returning from Milan, where he had been working for Azzo Visconti. 

He was buried with great honor in Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), receiving the first state funeral ever accorded to an artist. Later, Lorenzo the Magnificent placed a marble bust on his tomb with a Latin epitaph by Angelo Poliziano celebrating his achievements.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Giotto's life and work have inspired numerous artistic and literary works across the centuries. The ESA space mission to Halley's Comet was named "Giotto" in his honor, referencing his depiction of the comet in the Adoration of the Magi. His perfect circle story has become legendary, inspiring the Italian proverb and numerous retellings. 

Modern scholarship continues to debate his attributions, and exhibitions of his work draw international attention. His innovations in perspective and naturalism are studied in art history programs worldwide, and his name has become synonymous with the beginning of Renaissance art.

ACHIEVEMENTS Revolutionized Western art with the use of naturalistic expression and spatial depth.

Completed over 100 frescoes in the Arena Chapel in just two years.

Considered the first great artist of the Italian Renaissance.

Appointed Chief Master of Works for Florence Cathedral.

Revered by contemporaries including Dante and Boccaccio.

Paved the way for artists like Masaccio, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

Sources: (1) Napoli Unplugged (2) Gutenberg.org (3) Roderickconwaymorris.com