The old saying “All roads lead to Rome” is one I’m sure many of you will be familiar with.
It is essentially a metaphor for when all avenues or activities we pursue tend to lead us inevitably to one underlying source; like rivers that flow into the same ocean.
And, in terms of western art history - but, specifically, the art of realism painting - I think the same could be said of today’s Artist.
All roads lead to Giotto
Sadly, much of the factual details of Giotto’s life have always been somewhat mysterious.
But, if we are to base our picture of the man loosely on what we learn of him in Giorgio Vasari’s famous book “The Lives of the Artists. . .” then the story of his route into training as a painter is perhaps one of the most memorable in all of art history.
Apparently, Giotto was once a shepherd boy - who used to spend his days sketching images of his sheep onto random rocks. Then one day, while he was out in the field, a renowned artist by the name of Cimabue happened to come walking by; and, stopping for a moment to talk to the young shepherd - he became so astonished by these drawings the young boy had made, that the older artist immediately invited the boy to become his apprentice in Florence!
Now, of course, the entire episode immediately strikes us as likely apocryphal. But, to some extent, the very fact that Vasari and other historians of the later renaissance even thought it necessary to invent a mythology around Giotto just goes to show the regard the held him in.
You see, while Giotto’s style may seem rather juvenal to some eyes now - this is only because we are comparing it to the generations of artists that would follow him. The likes of Filippo Lippi - Bellini - Botticelli - Verrocchio - Leonardo da Vinci - Raphael and so on.
All of these men served to take art to a level of realism that had not been seen since ancient times . . . and yet, to some extent, absolutely all of them were building on the foundations set by Giotto.
So, rather than simply seeing his work in comparison to what was to come - I want us to instead take a moment to appreciate it more in context of the art world of the time.
And for that - let’s take a quick leap backwards in history; pretending for a moment that we are a Medieval audience instead, and glancing at a few other well known paintings of the time.
Of course, even these do still have their charm to an extent. And, rest assured, I do not mean in any to way denigrate the skill of Medieval painters here!
But, just imagine . . . all you have ever known, as an art lover living in the 13th century, are paintings of this style.
In fact, for hundreds of years, this was essentially the pinnacle of Western / European painting . . . a kind of flat, stiff figured, awkward style.
And then, all of a sudden, a man comes along who can paint like this instead . .
What would you think?
Don’t these faces look almost real?
Isn’t the colour more amplified. And the action more believable. And the sense of depth very close to how it would be if we were looking through a window instead of at a painted wall?
And, with that in mind, doesn’t it now become even more apparent just how much Giotto managed to revolutionise the direction of art?
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