Giotto

Giotto studies have reached a decisive turning point. A careful sifting of the available documents is now making it possible to establish a more satisfactory chronology of the artist's oeuvre. We find ourselves, nearly seven hundred years after Giotto's birth, in the presence of a group of really admirable works, easily accessible, which modern techniques of reproduction enable us to compare in their minutest details, and which every tourist to Italy makes a point of seeing. Never has Giotto's fame been so great as it is now. It is hoped that from these pages will emerge a picture of Giotto as he must have been seen and judged by his contemporaries. As we examine the problems he had to cope with, particularly those of subject and content, we must remember that Giotto was after all a painter of religious and historical subjects rather than a pure artist; he was alive to the great religious, political and social issues of his time, and his attitude toward them, whether he was for or against, is clearly and consciously reflected in his style. - p. 5-7.