Giotto

Introduction
Early life
The Assisi problem
Roman period
Paduan period
Santa Croce frescoes
Naples and the last Florentine period
Legacy

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Interior view of Saint Francis Basilica in Assisi, Italy, showing colorful frescoes by Giotto and others on the vaulted ceiling and walls, with tall stained glass windows.

Fresco by Giotto showing Saint Francis kneeling on rocky ground, gazing up at a seraph with outstretched wings in the sky, with two small buildings and another figure reading nearby.

Giotto: St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata

Fresco by Giotto depicting the Nativity: Mary and baby Jesus in a stable, Joseph seated nearby, angels above, and shepherds with sheep at right, in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua.

Interior view of the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy, featuring Giotto's frescoes on the walls and a blue vaulted ceiling decorated with gold stars and medallions.

At a Glance

Giotto (di Bondone) summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.

Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?

Related Questions

Did Giotto paint the frescoes of St. Francis in the Basilica of San Francesco at Assisi?
How did Dante describe Giotto’s fame compared with Cimabue’s?
How did Giorgio Vasari portray Giotto’s place in the history of Italian art?
How did Giotto create a sense of space in St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata?
How did Giotto make figures appear solid and weighty?
How did Giotto organize the frescoes inside the Arena Chapel?
How did Giotto show human emotions in religious paintings?
How did Giotto use gesture and facial expression to tell stories?
How did Giotto use perspective in the Arena Chapel frescoes?
How did Giotto’s narrative style differ from Duccio’s?
How did Taddeo Gaddi continue Giotto’s artistic influence in Florence?
How does Giotto portray the meeting between Jesus and Judas in The Betrayal of Christ?
How were the Assisi frescoes affected by the 1997 earthquakes?
What biblical events are combined in Giotto’s Noli me tangere?
What does Giotto’s The Betrayal of Christ show?
What does the Latin phrase noli me tangere mean in Giotto’s fresco?
What happened to Giotto’s frescoes during his stay in Naples?
What is happening in Giotto’s Lamentation fresco?
What is the subject of Giotto’s St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata?
What painting techniques did Giotto use for his frescoes and panel paintings?
What part did Giotto play in building Florence Cathedral’s bell tower?
What position did Giotto hold at Florence Cathedral in 1334?
What stories are shown in Giotto’s Arena Chapel fresco cycle?
What subjects did Giotto paint in the Bardi Chapel and Peruzzi Chapel?
What works did Giotto create in Rome?
When did King Robert of Naples make Giotto a member of the royal household?
When was Giotto born and when did he die?
When was the Arena Chapel built and consecrated?
Where was Giotto born?
Which artists were Giotto’s pupils and followers in Tuscany?
Which frescoes did Giotto paint in Santa Croce in Florence?
Who commissioned Giotto’s Arena Chapel frescoes in Padua?
Who commissioned Giotto’s Navicella mosaic for St. Peter’s?
Why are many details of Giotto’s life uncertain?
Why are the Bardi Chapel and Peruzzi Chapel frescoes difficult to study?
Why do art historians disagree about the Assisi frescoes attributed to Giotto?
Why is Giotto associated with the proto-Renaissance?
Why is Giotto considered an important forerunner of Renaissance art?
Why is the Arena Chapel also called the Scrovegni Chapel?
Why is the attribution of some works to Giotto disputed?
Why must art historians rely on old copies to study Giotto’s Navicella mosaic?
Why is Albrecht Dürer so famous?
What is Albrecht Dürer known for?
What was Albrecht Dürer’s family like?
Why is Sandro Botticelli so famous?
What was Sandro Botticelli’s family like?
How was Sandro Botticelli educated?
What is Leonardo da Vinci best known for?
How many Leonardo da Vinci paintings are there?
What was Leonardo da Vinci’s personality like?
What was Leonardo da Vinci’s family like?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

World History Encyclopedia - Giotto
The Art Story - Giotto
Art in Context - Giotto di Bondone ï¿½ The Life and Art of Giotto the Renaissance Painter
Getty - Everyone's Talking about Giotto
National Gallery of Art - Giotto

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Giotto di Bondone - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Giotto

Italian painter

Also known as: Giotto di Bondone

Written by

Peter J. Murray

Professor of the History of Art, Birkbeck College, University of London, 1967–80. Author of Architecture of the Italian Renaissance; coauthor of A Dictionary of Art and Artists.

Peter J. Murray

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Sep. 21, 2026 •History

Giotto (born 1266/67 or 1276, Vespignano, near Florence [Italy]—died January 8, 1337, Florence) was the most important Italian painter of the 14th century, whose works point to the innovations of the Renaissance style that developed a century later. For almost seven centuries, Giotto has been revered as the father of European painting and the first of the great Italian masters. He is believed to have been a pupil of the Florentine painter Cimabue and to...

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