classical cultures as particularly praiseworthy. This enthusiasm for
antiquity, represented by the elegant Latin of Cicero (106–43 BCE)
and the Augustan age, involved study of Latin literature and a con-
scious emulation of what proponents thought were the Roman civic
virtues. These included self-sacrificing service to the state, participa-
tion in government, defense of state institutions (especially the ad-
ministration of justice), and stoic indifference to personal misfor-
tune in the performance of duty. With the help of a new interest in
and knowledge of Greek, the humanists of the late 14th and 15th
centuries recovered a large part of the Greek as well as the Roman
literature and philosophy that had been lost, left unnoticed, or cast
aside in the Middle Ages. Indeed, classical cultures provided human-
ists with a model for living in this world, a model primarily of hu-
man focus that derived not from an authoritative and traditional re-
ligious dogma but from reason.
Ideally, humanists sought no material reward for services ren-
dered. The sole reward for heroes of civic virtue was fame, just as the
reward for leaders of the holy life was sainthood. For the educated,
the lives of heroes and heroines of the past became as edifying as thelives of the saints. Petrarch wrote a book on illustrious men, and his
colleague Boccaccio complemented it with biographies of famous
women—from Eve to his contemporary, Joanna, queen of Naples.
Both Petrarch and Boccaccio were famous in their own day as poets,
scholars, and men of letters—their achievements equivalent in
honor to those of the heroes of civic virtue. In 1341 in Rome, Pe-
trarch received the laurel wreath crown, the ancient symbol of vic-
tory and merit. The humanist cult of fame emphasized the impor-
tance of creative individuals and their role in contributing to the
renown of the city-state and of all Italy.Giotto
Giotto di Bondone(ca. 1266–1337) of Florence made a much
more radical break with the past than did Cimabue. Art historians
from Giorgio Vasari†to the present day have regarded Giotto as the
first Renaissance painter, a pioneer in pursuing a naturalistic ap-
proach to representation based on observation. Scholars still debate
the sources of Giotto’s style, however. One formative influence must
have been the work of the man Vasari said was his teacher, Cimabue,
although Vasari lauded Giotto as having eclipsed Cimabue by aban-
doning the “crude maniera greca.” Some late-13th-century muralsin
Rome with fully modeled figures of saints may also have influenced
the young Giotto. French Gothic sculpture (which Giotto may have
seen, but certainly familiar to him from the work of Giovanni
Pisano, who had spent time in Paris) and ancient Roman art must
also have contributed to Giotto’s artistic education. Yet no mere syn-
thesis of these varied influences could have produced the significant
shift in artistic approach that has led some scholars to describe
Giotto as the father of Western pictorial art. Renowned in his own
day, he established a reputation that has never faltered. Regardless of
the other influences on his artistic style, his true teacher was na-
ture—the world of visible things.
Giotto’s revolution in painting did not consist only of displac-
ing the Byzantine style, establishing painting as a major art form for
the next seven centuries, and restoring the naturalistic approach the
ancients developed and medieval artists largely abandoned. He also
inaugurated a method of pictorial expression based on observation
and initiated an age that might be called “early scientific.” By stress-
ing the preeminence of sight for gaining knowledge of the world,
Giotto and his successors contributed to the foundation of empirical
science. They recognized that the visual world must be observed be-
fore it can be analyzed and understood. Praised in his own and later
times for his fidelity to nature, Giotto was more than a mere imitator
of it. He revealed nature while observing it and divining its visible
order. In fact, he showed his generation a new way of seeing. With
Giotto, Western artists turned resolutely toward the visible world as
their source of knowledge of nature.
MADONNA ENTHRONED On nearly the same great scale as
Cimabue’s enthroned Madonna (FIG. 19-7) is Giotto’s panel (FIG.
19-8) depicting the same subject, painted for the high altar of the
Ognissanti (All Saints) church in Florence. Although still seen
against the traditional gold background, Giotto’s Madonna rests
within her Gothic throne with the unshakable stability of an ancientThe 14th Century 50319-8Giotto di Bondone,Madonna Enthroned,from the Church
of Ognissanti, Florence, Italy, ca. 1310. Tempera and gold leaf on wood,
10 8 6 8 . Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
Giotto displaced the Byzantine style in Italian painting and revived the
naturalism of classical art. His figures have substance, dimensionality,
and bulk and give the illusion that they could throw shadows.†Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) established himself as both a painter and architect
during the 16th century. However, people today usually associate him with his
landmark book Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects,first
published in 1550. Scholars long have considered this book a major source of in-
formation about Italian art and artists, although many of the details have proven
inaccurate. Regardless, Vasari’s Lives remains a tour de force—an ambitious, com-
prehensive book dedicated to recording the biographies of artists.1 ft.
19-8APIETRO
CAVALLINI,Last
Judgment,
ca. 1290–1295.