内容简介
Vasari famously wrote that Giotto "recovered the true method ofpainting, which been lost for many years before him," and indeed heis traditionally considered a founder of the Italian Renaissance.Producing a series of commissioned works for the church and upperclasses in his native Tuscany and surrounding regions, Giottochanged the course of European art by breaking away from the rigid,stereotyped figures of the Byzantine and Giotto medievaltraditions. His innovation was to give his characters naturalmovement and expression. His great fresco cycles, such as the livesof the Virgin and Christ in the Scrovegni (or Arena) Chapel, Padua,are populated with realistic depictions of three-dimensionalfigures; secondary characters, both comic and tragic, display therange of the painter's wit and invention. And Giotto's treatment ofperspective was just as revolutionary as his approach to the humanform. The dramatic power of his scenes is heightened by theconvincing illusionistic spaces in which he places them. In thisauthoritative survey of Giotto's life and work, Professor FrancescaFlores d'Arcais draws on an impressive range of sources, fromfourteenth-century documents to the most recent art - historicalinvestigations. Her research leads her to important re-attributionsof Giottesque paintings and to new conclusions regarding theexecution and dating of both famous and lesser-known works. Thissecond edition also includes a discussion of the earthquake ofSeptember 29, 1997 that damaged the frescoes of the Upper Basilicaof San Francesco in Assisi - some of which are attributed to theartist in the early phase of his career - and the restorationeffort that followed. More than three hundred illustrations, mostin full color and some on double gatefold pages, reproduce all ofGiotto's important frescoes in exquisite detail, as well as hismoving crucifixes and jewel-like polyptychs. These illustrationsare based on new photography of Giotto's paintings, many of whichhave recently been restored to their original brilliance, makingthis the definitive monograph on the greatest of trecentomasters.