Humanism into Art
Born in 1267 in Florence,
Italy, Giotto di Bondone is commonly referred to as the father of Renaissance
art.1 As the first popular artist of the 14th century
to apply humanist ideals to his artwork, Giotto’s work progressed from the
simplicity of the late medieval style and gave rise to the Renaissance art
movement of detail, accuracy, and the value of humanity. His revolutionary techniques
of realism and naturalism in painting using shading, color, and perspective
demonstrated the humanist attitude developing in the early Renaissance and its
value of reality and humanity, and paved the way for the new art styles of the
High Renaissance.
Giotto began
deviating from the typical Byzantine art styles of the time early in his
career. Popular art at the time utilized stylized, rigid, and emotionless
figures on flat planes, without any regard to relative proportion.2 During
Giotto’s time as an apprentice to the painter Cimabue, the two worked together
on the ceiling of the Church of San Francesco in Pisa.3 Giotto’s
fresco St. Francis’s Sermon before Honorius III possessed the
illusion of spatial depth due to his use of volumetric figures and the
appearance of several men sitting behind one another, creating a more realistic
and accurate piece.4 As Giotto moved towards independent
artistry, his emphasis on perspective in creating realistic art became more
pronounced. This goal of creating accuracy was in itself a humanist idea,
capturing the beauty and truthfulness of human view rather than attempting to
paint based on holy and sacred ideas.5 Giotto’s aimed to create
paintings in which the viewer had a place, and would feel as if they were
watching the scene from that place. This was greatly progressed from the
Byzantine style of two-dimensional scenes with little in the way of detail.6
Giotto also
adhered to classical ideals with his use of symmetry and balance in many of his
frescoes. His fresco Last Judgment, painted on the ceiling of
the Scrovegni Chapel in 1306, makes a particularly good example: the viewer
looked upon a massive and detailed scene full of angels and demons with Jesus
appearing to be at center and eye level. Giotto painted many of the angels in
the fresco to appear as if they sat behind one another in a large room, using
perspective and spatial realism as a tool in making a dramatic and realistic
painting.7
Another among Giotto’s
new techniques was his use of light and shade. By manipulating the effects of
light and shadow, Giotto’s paintings appeared to be lit from a single light
source, further increasing its realism. This was deeply rooted in the humanist
attitude towards the value of the human body – rather than painting
heavenly-looking, disproportionate and inhuman figures, Giotto used lighting to
draw attention to the earthliness of the human body, emphasizing its muscles
and curves. His unique adherence to naturalism in his art led him to color
things as they were in reality, rather than relying on gold and other “holy”
colors used by his predecessors.8 Renaissance contemporary
Boccaccio lauded Giotto’s talent and dedication to recreating the natural
beauty of his subjects, saying in 1353 in his work Decameron that
“There was nothing in Nature – the mother and ruling force of all created
things with her constant revolution of the heavens – that he could not paint
with his stylus, pen, or brush or make so similar to its original in Nature
that it did not appear to be the original rather than a reproduction.”9 Boccaccio’s
admiring voice revealed how thoroughly early Renaissance humanists acclaimed
Giotto’s symbolic appreciation of Nature and her reality, rather than the
strictly sacred views of traditional medieval art. To further convey the
humanity in his holy subjects, Giotto used facial expressions of people in his
paintings to communicate their emotion and earthliness. In The
Stigmatization of St. Francis, another fresco painted in the Church of
San Francesco, Giotto painted St. Francis with an intensely realistic
expression of shock and awe at the sight of Jesus, while Jesus’s face featured
an expression of calmness and peace. This was in stark contrast to facial
expressions typically used in art at the time – blank, smooth and emotionless –
and added another layer of humanity and empathy to his paintings.10
Giotto’s breakthroughs in
artistic naturalism influenced the powerful artists of the High Renaissance.
Masaccio, a Florentine painter who lived in the early 15th century,
improved upon Giotto’s techniques of perspective and shading and combined them
with Brunelleschi’s concept of linear perspective to create paintings that were
extremely realistic and created the appearance of real mass in real space.11 Masaccio,
in turn, went on to influence later 16th century artists such
as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo with his ability to conjure a
three-dimensional space on canvas. Giotto’s overall dedication to realism and
the human nature of his subjects in his art was carried into sculpture by
Donatello, whose classical nude David possessed both
anatomical accuracy and a palpable self-awareness and humanity, despite its
biblical origins.12 This especially recalled the humanist value
of humanity and awareness of self, in addition to its reverence for nature.
Giotto’s
applications of emotion and accuracy in his painting reflected the humanist
value of human life as well as dedication to nature’s perfection and classical
ideals by using perspective, shading, and symmetry to create balanced and
realistic artwork. By his death in January of 1337, Giotto had left a legacy of
adherence to naturalism and respect in his art, for both the reality of nature
and the humanity and emotion in human subjects.13 Giotto di
Bondone’s early advances in the world of art proved the humanist ideals of the
Renaissance and drove further advancements in art for centuries after.
Kayleigh Bishop
1 “Giotto di Bondone Style and Technique,” Artble, http://www.artble.com/artists/giotto_di_bondone/more_information/style_and_technique (accessed May 12, 2013).
2 “The Byzantine Style,” HistoryofArt.com, http://www.historyofpainters.com/byzantine.htm (accessed May 23, 2013).
3 “Giotto di Bondone Style and Technique,” Artble.
4 Encyclopedia of the Renaissance,1st ed., s.v. “Giotto di Bondone.”
5 History 100 Packet, Dr. Jones, Spring 2013, 16.
6 “Giotto di Bondone Style and Technique,” Artble.
7 “Last Judgement,” Web Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html? /html/g/giotto/padova/4lastjud/ 00view.html (accessed May 14, 2013).
8 “Giotto di Bondone Style and Technique,” Artble.
9 Encyclopedia Britannica: Academic Edition, s.v. “Humanism.” http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/275932/humanism/11822/Realism (accessed May 14, 2013).
10 “Giotto di Bondone Style and Technique,” Artble.
11 Encyclopedia Britannica: Academic Edition, s.v. “Masaccio;” History 100 Packet, Dr. Jones, Spring 2013, 18-19.
12 History 100 Packet, Dr. Jones, Spring 2013, 20.
13 “Giotto di Bondone,” GiottodiBondone.org.
