The painter Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337) represents a fundamental break with the artistic tradition of medieval religious art, which was dominated by symbolism and rigidity. In contrast, Giotto focuses more on the biographical aspects of sacred figures, portraying them in their human dimension. By bringing the sacred closer to the viewer, he initiated a path toward the humanization of religious art, a development that would profoundly influence the Renaissance.
In the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua (1304–1306), Giotto painted a cycle of frescoes narrating the lives of Mary and Jesus, harmoniously combining the divine and human dimensions of the protagonists.
One example is the fresco of the Nativity of Jesus. In this scene, Giotto transforms a biblical account into a moment of familial intimacy: the Virgin Mary, with an expression of love and protection, caresses the infant Jesus, who is also tenderly gazed upon by another woman. Saint Joseph, sitting in a corner, is depicted with a melancholy posture. Two shepherds look upon the scene with natural simplicity, while angels hover above, exultant at the birth of God. The scene is framed by a simple wooden structure that adds proximity and perspective.
Giotto places the viewer before a lived moment that is not only sacred but also profoundly human. As the 19th-century art critic John Ruskin wrote (1876, p. 48): “He painted—the Madonna, and St. Joseph, and the Christ—yes, by all means if you choose to call them so, but essentially—Mamma, Papa, and the Baby.”
The praise of writer Giovanni Boccaccio, who mentions the painter in his book The Decameron (1351/2001), reflects the magnitude of his impact:
“Giotto was of so excellent a wit that, let Nature, mother of all, operant ever by continual revolution of the heavens, fashion what she would, he with his style and pen and pencil would depict its like on such wise that it showed not as its like, but rather as the thing itself, insomuch that the visual sense of men did often err in regard thereof, mistaking for real that which was but painted. Wherefore, having brought back to light that art which had for many ages lain buried beneath the blunders of those who painted rather to delight the eyes of the ignorant than to satisfy the intelligence of the wise, he may deservedly be called one of the lights that compose the glory of Florence.”
Giotto’s ability to connect religious art with human experience transformed Western painting. With his innovative talent, he not only inaugurated a new artistic era but also planted the seed of a humanistic conception of art that transcends his time.
Historian. Educator at the Verneda Sant Martí Learning Community and member of Tot Història Cultural Association.