RENAISSANCE

Renaissance means rediscovery of the ancient Roman Empire, which awakened the interest in Classical
ideas of beauty and thought.

Art was based on the observation of the physical world and practiced the principles of mathematics
through balance, harmony, and perspective.

Moreover Renaissance art sought to capture the individuality, beauty, and mystery of natural world.

GIOTTO

Giotto di Bondone was born in July 1226 in Florence, Italy.

Giotto was the first of the Italian masters to draw from nature.

His style abolishes the flat medieval technique and rigid Byzantine imagery by drawing true-to-life scenes
of people.

When Cimabue go to Assisi, Giotto was with him. They painted large frescoes in the newly build Basilica
of St. Francis of Assisi. They decorate the interior of the church with the episodes of the St. Francis.

When Giotto is around 36-38 years old he moved in the town of Padua to take the most influential
artwork in his life.

The decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel or the Arena Chapel.

He with the help of 40 artists covered the interior of the chapel with panoramic frescoes that depict the
lives of Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, and the principal events of the Catholic faith.

He became the master builder of the Florence Cathedral and designer of the church’s bell tower that was
named after him.

In 1337, Giotto died in Florence. Giotto is often regarded as the father of Renaissance, and even the
father of European painting.

DONATELLO

Donatello di Niccolo di Betto Bardi is one of the greatest Florentine sculptors and considered as one of
the most influential artists of the fifteenth century.

He was born around 1386 in Florence Italy

He was educated in the house of Martelli family, a wealthy and influential family of bankers and art
 patrons in Florence who was tied with the medici family.

Under Ghiberti, Donatello learned the Gothic style of sculpting.

He began to develop his own style of realistic and highly emotional sculptures.

1408, he returned to Florence to work in Cathedral of Florence in the same year, he carved the first
David

In 1445, he completed the wooden sculpture Penitent Magdeline (it represent a gaunt-looking Mary
Magdalene.)