Stimmate san francesco giotto biography

His work formed the turning point of Italian art, representing the first attempt to abandon the bidimensional, hieratic Byzantine style for a more realistic, three-dimensional representation of space and a rediscovery of the human figure, which became, thanks to Giotto, key features of a renewal in painting.

Giotto's revolutionary qualities were already recognized by his contemporaries, as evidenced by the various quotations in literature since the early decades of the 14th century, including the famous triplet of Dante (Purgatorio, canto XI, 94-96):

«Credette Cimabue ne la pittura
tener lo campo, e ora ha Giotto il grido,
sì che la fama di colui è scura»

«Cimabue believed in painting
he was the master, and now has Giotto the voice,
so that the fame of the former is darkened »