After sleeping for a thousand years, art woke up in Tuscany at the end of the thirteenth century. Giotto was the first great genius.
There are a lot of stories about Giotto. The most famous is his big O.
Pope Boniface VIII wanted to commission some paintings for St. Peter’s and so he sent a courtier around to find the best painter in Italy. The courtier asked all the artists to give him a sample of their work to send to the Pope. He came to Giotto’s workshop, explained his mission, and asked him for a drawing which would give the Pope some idea of his competence and style. “Sure,” said Giotto; and he laid down a sheet of paper, reached for a brush dipped in red paint, closed his arm to his side to make a sort of compass of it, and in one even sweep scribed a perfect circle. “There you are,” he told the courtier, handing it to him with a smile.
“That’s your drawing?” asked the courtier, who didn’t know whether Giotto was pulling his leg. “Is that all you’re going to send His Holiness?”
“That’s more than enough,” said Giotto. “Send it with your other drawings and see whether it’s understood or not.”
The Pope’s messenger took the drawing and went away trying to hold his temper. Did that little painter think he was a fool?
When he got back to Rome he showed the Pope the big O and told him how Giotto had scribed it—freehand, without a compass. The pope and his advisors DID understand the achievement of that O and gave Giotto the commission.
See Giotto’s Last Judgment in Little Nudes in Hell
awsesome paintings
i remember hearing about this in Sphere. liv Shrieber
I think the artist artist you are actually referring to is Michael Angelo. Pope Benedict IX was born about 1012 and lived until 1065 or 1085. Giotto di Bondone was born around 1267 and died on January 8, 1337.
Artforartsake: My Penguin classics translation of Vasari’s Life of Giotto, where the story comes from, says Benedict IX. Maybe the mistake was Vasari’s. Thanks for the correction. Maybe you can help me find the name of the pope Vasari meant.
Dude,
It seems we are both right. I found this on”
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles10/famous-buildings-29.shtml
Quote: “Pope Boniface VIII, hearing, in Rome, of Giotto s painting, sent to invite him to his court. The messenger of the Pope asked Giotto to show him something of the art which had made him so famous; and Giotto, taking a sheet of paper and a pencil, drew quickly, with a single motion, a circle so perfect that it was considered a miracle.”
There are lots of great videos on YouTube of people drawing perfect circles on chalkboards. My personal favorite method is to use your knuckle as a central point and then, with pen or pencil in hand, keep your hand still and rotate the paper on a flat surface. Cool party trick.
Keep it real, and apologies if I came across as a wise ass. No offense.
AFAS
Hi Artforartsake. Not to worry. I appreciated the correction–I wonder if even my Vasari translator noticed the error. Now you found out it was Boniface VIII and I thank you again.
The source for all those anecdotes about Giotto is Vasari’s Life of Giotto–that’s where oldandsold got them, unless he picked them up second-hand somewhere. Some of them are often told of other people, like the “so would I if I were you.” Did you see Vasari’s story of Columbus’Egg? It wasn’t Columbus, he says, but Brunelleschi. See my post:
http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2007/09/29/whos-the-smartest/
I saw one of those videos about the time I wrote this post–a teacher drew a perfect circle on his blackboard. Holding the pencil still and turning the paper seems a little cheaty, no?
i heard this story told by my 9th grade social studies teacher 7 years ago and as an architecture fanatic was inspired by it. it took me a while to work up the nerve to get it done but i got a circle tattooed on my forearm to always remind me art is more than just big, fancy paintings, but is more about the meaning.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/callmeddt/3343138149/
thank you for the story behind this.
callmeddt: And thanks for your story. Good luck with those buildings you design. Don’t miss Giotto’s tower in Florence.