Art Prints: Giotto di Bondone
The Renaissance was a period in history marked by cultural, social and most of all, economic fruitfulness and achievement. It developed after the dark period of the Middle Ages where culture and the economy were dominated mostly by religious influence and a feudal system. This economic class system and major religious cultural influence remained neutral and was not improved by the occurrence of the deadly bubonic plague. The plague nearly wiped out the population and the economy along with it. Fortunately, after the plague, a new middle class began to form, stimulating and developing a new economy based on different trades, businesses and guilds. Because of their newly acquired wealth and comfort, this new middle class had more time and wealth for leisure, education, arts and entertainment. This development of cultural life and demand for art formulated the rebirth or the “renaissance” of the classical ideals of the Greco-Roman Period.
This new middle class grew, particularly in the trade and commerce cities of Italy namely Mantua, Venice and Florence. Florence in particular, became a model city for the Renaissance at it was home to a proliferation of artists, philosophers and writers. One of them was said to be the forerunner of Renaissance Art. He was the renowned architect, sculptor and painter, Giotto di Bondone. His work is said to be characterized by a tactile poignancy and realism influenced by the earliest Italian fresco masters, Cimabue and Pietro Cavallini. His work though was distinct from his old masters in that he painted well-proportioned figures and rendered realism in his painting. One of the artist’s earliest and most famous work is the five meter high suspended fresco of the Crucifix, which hangs at the famous Florence basilica of Santa Maria Novella.
Giotto’s frescoes of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi can be found at the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi while the Annunciation can be found at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. His Madonna and Child can now be found at the Diocesan Museum of Santo Stefano al Ponte and the Stigmata of St. Francis, from Pisa, is now said to be at the Louvre.
If budget does not permit a trip to Europe to view or purchase an original Giotto, online post cards can be viewed and printed using online postcard printing services. Otherwise, a trip to the local museum shop also might also present a variety of art postcards to choose from.