Around 1265 -1337 · Fresco, story and birth of modern space

Explore Giotto, a Florentine master who gives figures weight, emotion and space, from the Madonna of Ognissanti to the cycle of the Scrovegni chapel and the Last Judgment.

Probably born around 1265 in Florentine territory, Giotto di Bondone is traditionally presented as a student of Cimabue. Active in Florence, Assisi, Rome, Padua, Naples, Bologna and Milan, he plays a decisive role in the renewal of Western painting. Its figures no longer float on the background: they have weight, volume, gestures and emotions, and inhabit architectures or landscapes made coherent. In Padua, the Scrovegni chapel, painted around 1303 -1305, transforms the stories of Mary and Christ into a clear, continuous and deeply human story. Lamentation organizes the looks and bodies around the dead Christ, while the Entrance to Jerusalem distributes crowd, urban door and movement in a readable space. The Last Judgment covers the counter-facade of the chapel and brings together salvation, damnation and donor in a monumental vision. On panel, the Madonna of Ognissanti gives the throne an architectural depth and the Virgin a new bodily presence. The Stefaneschi Triptych, designed for the ancient Saint Peter's Basilica with the help of the workshop, combines story, liturgy and the painted double-sided Virgin. The Stefaneschi Triptych, designed for the ancient Saint Peter's Basilica with the help of the workshop, combines story, liturgy and painted double-sided. The "Giotto" selection notably compares Ognissanti's Madonna and the Lamentation over the Dead Christ. Its reading favors atmosphere.

Giotto renders the sacred human without diminishing it: a gesture, a look and the weight of a body are enough to give truth to the story.