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Giotto
Giotto (artist) (c. 1267-1337), the most important Italian painter of the 14th century, whose conception of the human figure in broad, rounded terms-rather than in the flat, two-dimensional terms of Gothic and Byzantine styles-indicated a concern for naturalism that marked a turning point in the development of Western art.
He was born Giotto di Bondone in Colle di Vespignano, near Florence. Details of his early life are scarce, but he probably served an apprenticeship in Florence before embarking on a career that took him to Rome, Padua, Arezzo, Rimini, Assisi, and Naples.
Giotto's entire output consists of religious works, primarily altarpieces and church frescoes. Few remain in good condition, and most have disappeared entirely or have been almost wholly repainted. Others cannot be securely attributed to him and are more likely to be the work of followers or apprentices. One of his earliest and best-known attributable works is the large fresco cycle illustrating the lives of the Virgin and Christ in the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel in Padua, which may have been completed as early as 1305 or 1306. Giotto's scenes break with rigid medieval stylization to present human figures in rounded sculptural forms that appear to have been based on living models rather than on idealized archetypes. He rejected the bright, jewel-like colours and long, elegant lines of the Byzantine style in favour of a quieter, more realistic presentation. His emphasis is on the human and the real rather than on the divine and the ideal-a revolutionary development in an age dominated by religion. His settings (here as in all of his works) consist of shallow, boxlike architectural backdrops. These are somewhat more open than the flat planes of Byzantine and Gothic paintings but fall short of the fully developed perspective seen in later Renaissance painting.
The Ognissanti Madonna (c. 1310, Uffizi, Florence) is roughly contemporary with the Arena frescoes and is Giotto's only attributable panel painting. It shows the influence of the earlier Florentine painter Cimabue in composition and style, but is unique in its humanization of the Madonna's face. Two fresco cycles in the Church of Santa Croce, Florence-depicting the life of St Francis and the lives of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist-are thought to be later works. While they are extensively restored, they represent the most advanced stage of Giotto's style, showing human figures grouped in free, active poses. The question of Giotto's authorship of the frescoes in the Upper Church at Assisi is an ongoing one among art historians.
Giotto was ahead of his time. Most of his followers painted in a less realistic, more overtly decorative style. It remained for Masaccio, a century later, to expand upon Giotto's style. Giotto's example was crucial to the development of later Florentine painting, and his preoccupation with the realities of the human figure and the visible world became the dominant concerns of the Florentine Renaissance. He died in Florence, in 1337.
Great italians great italy history american history great italians Columbus, Christopher (Italian, Cristoforo Colombo, Spanish, Cristóbal Colón) (1451-1506), Italian-Spanish navigator who sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a route to Asia but achieved fame by making landfall, instead, in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy. His father was a weaver, and it is believed that Christopher entered this trade as a young man. Information about the beginning of his seafaring career is uncertain, but the independent city-state of Genoa had a busy port, and he may have sailed as a commercial agent in his youth. In the mid-1470s he made his first trading voyage to the island of Khíos, in the Aegean Sea. In 1476 he sailed with a convoy bound for England. Legend has it that the fleet was attacked by pirates off the coast of Portugal, where Columbus's ship was sunk, but he swam to shore and took refuge in Lisbon. Settling there, where his brother Bartholomew Columbus was working as a cartographer, he was married in 1479 to the daughter of the governor of the island of Porto Santo. Diego Columbus, the only child of this marriage, was born in 1480. Based on information acquired during his travels, and by reading and studying charts and maps, Christopher concluded that the Earth was 25 per cent smaller than was previously thought, and composed mostly of land. On the basis of these faulty beliefs, he decided that Asia could be reached quickly by sailing west. In 1484 he submitted his theories to John II, king of Portugal, petitioning him to finance a westward crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. His proposal was rejected by a royal maritime commission because of his miscalculations and because Portuguese ships were on the point of finding a sea route to Asia around Africa. Soon after, Columbus moved to Spain, where his plans won the support of several influential people, and he secured an introduction, in 1486, to Isabella I, queen of Castile. About this time, Columbus, then a widower, met Beatriz Enriquez, who became his mistress and the mother of his second son, Ferdinand Columbus. In Spain, as in Portugal, a royal commission rejected his plan. Columbus continued to seek support, however, and in April 1492 his persistence was rewarded: Ferdinand V, king of Castile, and Queen Isabella agreed to sponsor the expedition. The signed contract stipulated that Columbus was to become viceroy of all territories he located; other rewards included a hereditary peerage and one-tenth of all precious metals found within his jurisdiction. Great italians great italy history american history great italians Columbus, Christopher (Italian, Cristoforo Colombo, Spanish, Cristóbal Colón) (1451-1506), Italian-Spanish navigator who sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a route to Asia but achieved fame by making landfall, instead, in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy. His father was a weaver, and it is believed that Christopher entered this trade as a young man. Information about the beginning of his seafaring career is uncertain, but the independent city-state of Genoa had a busy port, and he may have sailed as a commercial agent in his youth. In the mid-1470s he made his first trading voyage to the island of Khíos, in the Aegean Sea. In 1476 he sailed with a convoy bound for England. Legend has it that the fleet was attacked by pirates off the coast of Portugal, where Columbus's ship was sunk, but he swam to shore and took refuge in Lisbon. Settling there, where his brother Bartholomew Columbus was working as a cartographer, he was married in 1479 to the daughter of the governor of the island of Porto Santo. Diego Columbus, the only child of this marriage, was born in 1480. Based on information acquired during his travels, and by reading and studying charts and maps, Christopher concluded that the Earth was 25 per cent smaller than was previously thought, and composed mostly of land. On the basis of these faulty beliefs, he decided that Asia could be reached quickly by sailing west. In 1484 he submitted his theories to John II, king of Portugal, petitioning him to finance a westward crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. His proposal was rejected by a royal maritime commission because of his miscalculations and because Portuguese ships were on the point of finding a sea route to Asia around Africa. Soon after, Columbus moved to Spain, where his plans won the support of several influential people, and he secured an introduction, in 1486, to Isabella I, queen of Castile. About this time, Columbus, then a widower, met Beatriz Enriquez, who became his mistress and the mother of his second son, Ferdinand Columbus. In Spain, as in Portugal, a royal commission rejected his plan. Columbus continued to seek support, however, and in April 1492 his persistence was rewarded: Ferdinand V, king of Castile, and Queen Isabella agreed to sponsor the expedition. The signed contract stipulated that Columbus was to become viceroy of all territories he located; other rewards included a hereditary peerage and one-tenth of all precious metals found within his jurisdiction.