Image 2.10
GIOTTO DI BONDONE, ST FRANCIS PREACHING TO THE BIRDS (c. 1298)1
Modern European painting began to emerge in Italy in the early 1300s with Giotto di Bon-­‐
done (c. 1267–1337), who was recognized in his own lifetime for his charisma and creative originality. Cenni di Pepo Cima-­‐
bue (c. 1240–c. 1302), Giotto’s teacher, still worked in the Byz-­‐
antine tradition, creating bright-­‐
ly colored ensembles of religious figures, adorned with golden haloes, and all occupying the same plane. Giotto broke radi-­‐
cally from this style. The golden haloes remain, but his individu-­‐
alized figures recede in depth within a three-­‐dimensional framework. His human figures are more realistic and reveal distinctive personality traits, emotions, and purposes. He also represented nature in new, sympathetic ways and captured human interactions with it, as in his St. Francis Preaching to the Birds. From Giotto onward European painters, passing through many styles, media, and periods, gradually achieved stupendous realism, technical virtuosity, and almost microscopic detail, along with profoundly original ways of representing both external reality and internal experiences. For the image’s original Internet location, click here. When 1 Image provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.