Giotto di Bondone

Giotto di Bondone broke Italian painting away from the Byzantine manner and began the tradition that led to the Renaissance. Born around 1267 near Florence, probably to a farming family, he is said by legend to have been found drawing a sheep on a rock by Cimabue, who took him as an apprentice. His achievement is visible immediately against what preceded it. Byzantine figures are flat, frontal and weightless, arranged against gold; Giotto's occupy space, have bulk under their clothing, stand on ground and cast shadow, and turn away from the viewer to attend to each other. He also gave them recognisable emotion. His masterpiece is the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, frescoed around 1305 for a banker whose father Dante had placed in hell for usury. Thirty-eight scenes of the lives of the Virgin and Christ run around the walls in three tiers under a blue vault. In the Lamentation the mourners bend over the body with their faces distorted, one figure seen from behind blocking the view — a device that puts the viewer inside the scene. In the Betrayal, Judas and Christ look directly at each other. He worked at Assisi, where the Legend of St Francis cycle is traditionally his, at Rome, Rimini, Naples and Milan, and painted the Ognissanti Madonna and the Stefaneschi altarpiece. He was appointed master of works of Florence cathedral in 1334 and designed the campanile that carries his name. Dante names him in the Purgatorio, and Boccaccio said he had brought back to light an art buried for centuries. He died in 1337.

• Lived: 1267 CE – 1337 CE
• Nationality: Italian
• Roles: painter, architect