Giotto
Little is known aboaut Abrogiotto di Bondone, whose mastery of human expression in art has earned him the title "Father of the Italian Renaissance." He was born in Florence and is thought to have lived there most of his life. He may have made a trip to Rome c. 1313, where he saw the scupture of Nicolo Pisano and of Arnolfo di Cambria. Giotto was once believed to have been a student of Cimabue, but many discount this as legend. Giotto's name is found in a 1327 roster of members of the Florentine painters' guild, and his earliest known works are mosaics in the baptistry at Florence. He was in the service of Robert of Anjou c. 1329/1330; Giotto is known to have received a pension from the count. No work from that period survives. Giotto became the architect/surveyor of the cathedral at Florence in 1334, and the Campanile, although altered from his original design, is associated with him. Giotto, who died in 1337, brought to painting a greater sense of spatial dimension and a greater realism in the depiction of physical form and human expression.
Karen Rae Keck
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