Who Was Giotto and Why Was He So Important?
A fly that a Tuscan boy named Giotto may have painted, once, set the Italian Renaissance abuzz. It was so true to life, according to the art historical legend that trails Giotto to this day, that Cimabue, the master painter he was apprenticed to, believed it was an actual pest. “Returning to his work, he […]
Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages
Until the late eleventh century, southern Italy occupied the western border of the vast Byzantine empire. Even after this area fell under Norman rule in about 1071, Italy maintained a strong link with Byzantium through trade, and this link was expressed in the art of the period. Large illustrated Bibles (“giant Bibles”) and Exultet Rolls—liturgical […]