The first civilised at last
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Even the great time-bender Giotto might be impressed that, in deconstructing the myth of the Renaissance for the sprawling history “Civilization”, published last year, Roger Osborne begins with him:
“In 1303 Enrico Scrovegni, a Paduan merchant, commissioned Dante’s near-contemporary Giotto di Bondone to paint a series of frescos to commemorate his father’s death. The paintings, on the life and passion of Christ, were full of bold innovations. Not only were they biblical scenes filled with ordinary Italian people in quite ordinary landscapes — ‘The Mourning of Christ’, for example, could have been happening at a roadside outside Padua — but both the people and scenes looked real.”
Shown here in a portrait by Paolo Uccello, Giotto “catapulted Western painting into an entirely new area of endeavour,” writes Osborne. “His ability to give the illusion of three dimensions was a radical departure for Italian art — so radical that it took another 70 years for any other artist to adopt it successfully.”
So this is civilisation at last! Hold the mediaeval myth-mongering and bring on Michelangelo.
“Giotto’s astonishing skill made him, like Dante, a celebrity, winning commissions in cities across northern Italy.” See the rest.
