Giotto

A Narration Example:

"Little is known of the life of Giotto. He grew up near Florence and became a famous artist. His father was a shepherd. Giotto was watching the sheep one day and he drew a picture of a sheep on a rock with a stone. A famous artist was traveling by and saw him drawing the sheep and was so impressed that he took him to be his apprentice. That’s how he got started.

"He showed everybody how to make things look in the distance so they didn’t look flat. He shaded one side of the faces and made them look more realistic.” (Riley Rackliffe, nine years old)

For a wonderful collection of prints by this medieval artist, find the book The Glorious Impossible by Madeleine L’Engle. This beautiful book is illustrated with Giotto’s frescoes from the Scrovegni Chapel. Each full page illustration has a companion page narrating that portion of the life of Christ in L’Engle’s eloquent and insightful prose. This format makes a wonderful read-aloud. The children have ample time to study each picture as you read the prose. The text emphasizes the miraculous nature of Christ among us. The pictures at first glance seem stiff in the formalized manner of their time, with careful compositional balance, halos to spotlight the godly, and stylized faces that barely hint at emotion. One must remember that Giotto artistic leap was in adding depth to the landscapes and realism to his faces. You will notice that much of the picture story is told in figure placement and emotional body language. Because of this, his work is far more expressive than his predecessors.

You will also notice that the pictures are easily grouped into Christmas and Easter themes. A study suggestion would be to study this artist at one of those times of the year, choosing favorite Christmas or Easter hymns to round out your devotional. We did this one December and found ourselves drawn into the holiness of His life, discussing each evening these blessings. We also enjoyed researching other aspects of Giotto’s life, times, and art through various encyclopedias, Internet searches, and art anthologies.

One of the most printed pictures by Giotto is of Saint Francis giving away his cloak to a poor person. This became one of our favorites. There are two mountains that form a V. On one mountain there is a city in the distance, balanced on the other mountain by a church. The sky is fair, the trees growing. And in the middle of it all, Saint Francis giving to the poor from off his own back. Lots of morals in this one.

Giotto and Medieval Art by Lucia Corrain is another good book to round out your study of this wonderful artist. This book is part of the Masters of Art series and should be available at libraries. It illustrates why Giotto was the most influential and innovative artist of Medieval Europe. It goes beyond his paintings and shows his work as an architect, engineer and sculptor. It discusses his life and times, his teacher, his workshop and methods, including historical background. It’s large, picture book format will appeal to all ages.