GIOTTO di Bondone (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze) Legend of St Francis: 1. Homage of a Simple Man 1300 Fresco, 270 x 230 cm Upper Church, San
GIOTTO di Bondone (b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze) Legend of St Francis: 1. Homage of a Simple Man 1300 Fresco, 270 x 230 cm Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi This is the first of the twenty-eight scenes (twenty-five of which were painted by Giotto) of the Legend of Saint Francis but this was painted probably last. This is because the beam of the iconostasis, a piece of which is still visible, was to be inserted into the wall in the area occupied by the first scene. Evidently, it was only towards the end of the work that it was decided to fresco the first and last wall areas as well, painting them in such a way that the beam could be inserted into the neutral area of the blue background. There is a remarkable difference between the first and second scenes of the cycle. In the Homage of a Simple Man the painting has become softer, the transitions of colour are more delicate, and the clothing has a very soft, velvety conistency which, especially in the case of the figure on the far right, already looks forward to the Arena Chapel frescoes. But St Francis giving his Mantle to a Poor Knight is still distinguished by a transparent, almost metallic colour which creates a granite effect in the rocks of the landscape. The concept of space evident at Assisi had been known to the ancient world, and lost in the Dark Ages. But it was not merely a question of a new way of painting. The idea of reconstructing three-dimensional space illusionistically on a two-dimensional surface restored importance to that reality perceived by the senses that had been lost in the intervening years, when the only true reality was considered to be that of the spiritual world. Giotto's reversal of this concept paralleled certain trends of thought, especially prominent among Franciscan intellectuals, that were to culminate in the Nominalist philosophy of Giotto's English contemporary, William of Ockham. Giotto's architectural settings are not merely a means of creating pictorial depth,
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Photo credit: © Carlo Bollo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
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Keywords: 1200, 1200s, 1300, 1300s, 13th, ages, assisi, basilica, century, francis, frencis, fresco, giotto, gothic, italy, late, legend, middle, painter, proto, reinassance, renaissance, saint, st., tuscany
