Giotto and His Publics: Three Paradigms of Patronage

by Julian Gardner

Overview

This probing analysis of three of Giotto’s major works and the patrons who commissioned them goes beyond the clichés of Giotto as the founding figure of Western painting. It traces the interactions between Franciscan friars and powerful bankers and illuminates the complex interactions between mercantile wealth and the iconography of poverty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674050808
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2011
Series:	The Bernard Berenson lectures on the Italian Renaissance , #3
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Julian Gardner is Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at the University of Warwick.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction 1

1 Giotto at Pisa: The Stigmatization for San Francesco 17

2 Giotto among the Money-Changers: The Bardi Chapel in Santa Croce 47

3 The Lull before the Storm: The Vele in the Lower Church at Assisi 81

Conclusion 113

Appendix: Inscriptions of the Vele 129

Chronology 133

Notes 139

Index 227

Editorial Reviews

One of Julian Gardner’s most significant contributions to the study of late medieval Italian art has been to move the focus of discussion away from style and attribution to context and patronage, and readers expecting such a treatment of Giotto will not be disappointed… It examines the reciprocal relationship between painter and patron, and how the ingenuity of the former satisfied the intellectual, religious and social needs of the latter… It represents a sort of summa, building on the author’s research over some forty years, each word chosen carefully for maximum impact, and each sentence concise yet pregnant with meaning. The text is accompanied by an exceptionally rich scholarly apparatus.
— John Osborne Burlington Magazine

The expertise of distinguished scholar Gardner reveals itself in every page of this small volume… Gardner has numerous insights about content, patronage, and historical background, and he is especially sensitive to the artistic expression of Franciscan values and concerns. His characterization of the absence of minoritas, or Franciscan humility, in the paintings in Assisi and Florence seems particularly apt. His essays lead readers to look at the paintings anew—both the familiar images, such as the Bardi Chapel frescoes, and the often-overlooked Assisi allegories.
— J. I. Miller Choice

From the Publisher

The expertise of distinguished scholar Gardner reveals itself in every page of this small volume… Gardner has numerous insights about content, patronage, and historical background, and he is especially sensitive to the artistic expression of Franciscan values and concerns. His characterization of the absence of minoritas, or Franciscan humility, in the paintings in Assisi and Florence seems particularly apt. His essays lead readers to look at the paintings anew—both the familiar images, such as the Bardi Chapel frescoes, and the often-overlooked Assisi allegories.

Choice - J. I. Miller

One of Julian Gardner’s most significant contributions to the study of late medieval Italian art has been to move the focus of discussion away from style and attribution to context and patronage, and readers expecting such a treatment of Giotto will not be disappointed… It examines the reciprocal relationship between painter and patron, and how the ingenuity of the former satisfied the intellectual, religious and social needs of the latter… It represents a sort of summa, building on the author’s research over some forty years, each word chosen carefully for maximum impact, and each sentence concise yet pregnant with meaning. The text is accompanied by an exceptionally rich scholarly apparatus.

Burlington Magazine - John Osborne

The expertise of distinguished scholar Gardner reveals itself in every page of this small volume...Gardner has numerous insights about content, patronage, and historical background, and he is especially sensitive to the artistic expression of Franciscan values and concerns. His characterization of the absence of minoritas, or Franciscan humility, in the paintings in Assisi and Florence seems particularly apt. His essays lead readers to look at the paintings anew—both the familiar images, such as the Bardi Chapel frescoes, and the often-overlooked Assisi allegories.
— J. I. Miller

Choice