Giotto, one of the most important artists in the development of Western art.
13, Scenes from The Life Of John The Baptist — Florence, Peruzzi Chapel
The Peruzzi Chapel, which is adjacent to the Bardi Chapel,
was largely painted a secco — a wall painting technique where pigments mixed with an organic
binder or lime are applied on to a dry plaster. The a secco technique contrasts with the fresco
technique, where the painting is executed on a layer of wet plaster.
This technique, quicker but less durable than true fresco,
has resulted in a seriously deteriorated condition.
Scholars that date this cycle earlier in Giotto’s career see the growing interest in architectural
expansion it displays as close to the developments of the frescoes in the Lower Church at Assisi,
while the Bardi frescoes have a softness of colour that indicates a new direction for the artist
in his work, probably under the influence of Sienese art, suggesting a later date.
The Peruzzi Chapel features two lots of three frescoes,
concerning the life of Saint John the Baptist. On the left wall we have The Annunciation of
John’s Birth to his Father Zacharias, The Birth and Naming of John and The Feast of Herod.
On the right wall the three scenes from the Life of Saint John the Evangelist are The
Visions of John on Ephesus, The Raising of Drusiana and The Ascension of John.
The choice of scenes has been related to both the patrons and the Franciscans.
Due to the deteriorated condition of the frescoes, it is difficult to assess Giotto’s style in
the chapel, though the paintings indicate signs of his typical interest in controlled
naturalism and psychological penetration. The Peruzzi Chapel was especially renowned during
the Renaissance and it is believed that Giotto’s compositions influenced Masaccio’s frescos
at the Brancacci Chapel and Michelangelo is also believed to have studied them.
The construction of the Peruzzi Chapel was made possible by the influential banker, Donato di
Arnoldo Peruzzi, who left additional money for this memorial chapel in his will in 1299.
It was most likely his grandson Giovanni di Rinieri Peruzzi that donated the murals honouring
John the Evangelist and John the Baptist. The juxtaposition of the two John cycles is
unusual and researchers believe it contains a mixture of religious and secular iconography:
John the Evangelist was the donor’s name-saint; John the Baptist was patron saint both of the
city of Florence and of Saint Francis, to whom Santa Croce is dedicated.
In his family’s memorial chapel the banker Peruzzi,
therefore, has commissioned a sequence that connects his own memory and that
of his family with the religious background of the Franciscans and the fate of the city,
in which the Peruzzis were one of the most influential families.
14, Stefaneschi Altarpiece
In 1320 Giotto painted the Stefaneschi Triptych, now housed in the Vatican Museum,
for Cardinal Giacomo Gaetano Stefaneschi. The triptych is one of the few works by Giotto
for which firm evidence of a commission exists. The cardinal also commissioned Giotto to decorate
the apse of Saint Peter’s Basilica with a cycle of frescoes that were destroyed
during the sixteenth century renovation. According to Vasari, Giotto remained in Rome
for six years, subsequently receiving numerous commissions in Italy and in the Papal seat at
Avignon, though some of these works are now recognised to be by other artists.
The central front panel represents Saint Peter enthroned,
flanked by saints, with Cardinal Stefaneschi on his right offering up the altarpiece.
Saints James and Paul are in the left panel and John the Evangelist
and Andrew are presented on the right. Now two of the three predella panels are lost,
but it is believed they all represented half-length figures of saints.
The back central panel represents Christ enthroned flanked by angels with a kneeling Cardinal
Stefaneschi at his right foot. The left panel represents the crucifixion of Peter
and the right side the beheading of Saint Paul. The predella depicts the Virgin and Child
flanked by angels in the centre and standing figures of the twelve apostles on the sides.
The altarpiece originally stood before the apse of Old Saint Peter’s, which in
the fourteenth century contained a mosaic of Christ enthroned between Saints Peter and Paul.
Therefore, the iconography of the front of the painting paralleled the apse mosaic
in form, but did not repeat it in iconography. The central panel of the back of the altarpiece
duplicated the apse mosaic for those that could not see it, as they would sit with their backs to
it, while the side panels introduced narratives. It was customary for double-sided altarpieces to
have an iconic image on the front and narrative images on the back.
Giotto represents the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul as taking place in recognisable locations,
frequently visited by pilgrims to Rome. Peter’s crucifixion is placed between the Meta
romuli (a pyramid near the Vatican, destroyed in the fifteenth century) and the obelisk that came
from Nero’s Circus, while Paul’s beheading is outside the city, near a round building
that symbolises the Saint’s prison. These scenes could also be found in
the medieval frescoes on the walls of the nave of Old Saint Peter’s.
Although images of donors in church decorations in Rome went back to the Early Christian period,
Giotto’s altarpiece for Saint Peter’s is unusual in both the double representation of the donor
(front and back) and the intense detail of the face and costume of Cardinal Stefaneschi.
The patron is dressed in full ceremonial costume as a cardinal on the front, appropriate for
the “public” face of the altarpiece and is introduced to Saint Peter by Saint George.
On the back, he is more modestly dressed as a canon, suitable for the audience on
this side of the painting. In his biography on Giotto,
Vasari cited portraiture as one of the artist’s greatest strengths, which is
confirmed by the detailed, individualistic faces of the Stefaneschi Triptych.
15, Madonna and Child (Washington)
This panel painting was most likely the central section of a five-part altarpiece
executed for the Santa Croce, completed late in Giotto’s career.
The other panels of the altarpiece are scattered around in various museums across the world,
while the Madonna and Child is held in Washington’s National Gallery.
In the composition Giotto utilises a conservative Byzantine-style background in gold leaf,
symbolising the realm of heaven, and the white rose is a traditional symbol
of Mary’s purity as well as a reference to the innocence lost through Original Sin.
Yet, this Madonna and Child introduces a new naturalistic trend for painting at that time.
The sober and restrained colours, blended with the soft shadows,
create the weight and volume of the bodies and the pull of gravity on them,
marking the work as a particular modern interpretation of a very common theme.
The artist’s focus is the human interaction between a mother and child,
as the infant steadies himself by grasping Mary’s finger, reaching for the flower she holds.
The emphasis on the humanity of the figures is a departure from the devotional Byzantine tradition,
represented by the likes of Duccio and his followers.
16, Bologna Polyptych
After working in Naples, Giotto stayed for a while in Bologna, where he painted a polyptych
for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Believed to have been partly painted by the
workshop, the altarpiece consists of five panels and a predella.
In the central panel the Madonna sits on a Gothic throne flanked by Saint Peter,
the Archangel Gabriel, the Archangel Michael and Saint Paul.
The four saints accompanying the Virgin appear austere and stern,
whilst the Madonna herself has the appearance of an elegant and sophisticated woman.
The polyptych is celebrated for its richness and gold decorations, presenting a dazzling
array of colours that complement the overall impression of divine brilliance.
17, Giotto’s Campanile
Thirty years after the death of Arnolfo di Cambio, the first Master of the Works
of Florence’s Cathedral, Giotto was nominated as his successor in 1334.
At that time the artist was sixty-seven years old.
Giotto concentrated his architectural work on the design and construction of a campanile
(bell tower) for the cathedral.
He had become an eminent architect due to the growing autonomy of the architect-designer
in relation to the craftsmen since the first half of the thirteenth century.
The first stone was laid on 19 July 1334 and the design was in harmony with the polychromy
of the cathedral, as applied by Arnolfo di Cambio, giving the tower a view as if it were “painted”.
In his design Giotto also applied chiaroscuro and a form of perspective instead of a strict linear
drawing of the campanile, as well as designing a surface of coloured marble in geometric patterns.
When Giotto died in 1337, he had only finished the lower floor with its marble external revetment,
decorated with geometric patterns of white marble from Carrara, green
marble from Prato and red marble from Siena. The lower floor is decorated on three sides
with bas-reliefs in hexagonal panels, seven on each side.
When the entrance door was enlarged in 1348, two panels were moved to the empty northern
side and only much later, five more panels were commissioned from Luca della Robbia in 1437.
It is difficult to attribute who created these panels, though some may be by Giotto himself,
while the others are most likely by Andrea Pisano or a mixture from their workshops.
Through his planning of the bell tower, Giotto is now considered, along with
Brunelleschi and Alberti, as one of the founding fathers of Italian Renaissance architecture.
He was succeeded as Master of the Works in 1343 by Andrea Pisano, famous already
for the South Doors of the Baptistery. Pisano continued the construction of the
bell tower, closely following Giotto’s design. Pisano was replaced in his turn by Francesco
Talenti, who built the top three levels, with the large windows, completing the bell tower in 1359.
He opted not to build the spire designed by Giotto, lowering the designed height
of 122 metres to 84.7 metres. The top, with its breathtaking
panorama of Florence and the surrounding hills, can be reached by climbing 414 steps.