The Cambridge Companion to Giotto, a handsome hardback published by Cambridge University Press, forms part of a series of volumes aimed at introducing key figures (other volumes in the series include, for example, a companion to Giovanni Bellini and one volume dedicated to Raphael). Here, the editors, Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona, have brought together ten essays by leading scholars in the field of the Early Renaissance, and have themselves set the tone for the volume in an extensive introductory essay. The chapters are supplemented by a useful list of documents and early sources (which barely covers 2 pages), and numerous black and white illustrations. As ever, the lack of color illustrations in volumes published by Cambridge University Press is deeply regrettable, especially given the price tag which attaches to this volume, a price tag which puts this book effectively out of the reach of the text book market, and relegates it to the library shelves. This is a particular shame in the instance of this excellent volume, as it provides an indispensable overview on the state of scholarship concerning Giotto and studies of the artist and his times.
Derbes and Sandona themselves set the tone in their introductory chapter, 'Giotto Past and Present: an Introduction'. The article touches on the 'myth' of Giotto (explored in more detail by Hayden Maginnis in a later chapter, and then sets out the (very few) uncontested facts known about Giotto di Bondone. Born (probably!) in 1266-67 to a Florentine blacksmith, most of the documents relating to him concern property transactions rather than artistic commissions, so the extent of his accepted output remains reliant on other sources of confirmation. Which is of course where the debates about what constitutes--or not--a work by Giotto come from. It is clear that Giotto traveled extensively for much of his life, from Rome to Naples to Assisi and Padua. It also becomes apparent that Giotto juggled numerous commissions at any one time, and for this, he required the assistance of a large and very well-organized workshop. The authors also emphasize the significance of the Franciscan order as early patrons of the artist, and indeed, Giotto's association with the Franciscans continued throughout his life.
The authors' authoritative and succinct introduction is followed by ten essays, each of which takes a distinct approach to studying Giotto. First is Hayden Maginnis, who embarks on a 'search of an artist' by exploring aspects of Giotto's problematic historiography. In fact, he uses his masterly survey as a means of emphasizing problems inherent in the discipline of Art History as a whole, which are thrown into sharp relief by an examination of writings on Giotto. Maginnis' survey takes in some of the earliest mentions of Dante as well as considering seminal works by twentieth-century scholars which now form the backbone of Giotto studies.
The next essay, Bruno Zanardi's "Giotto and the St. Francis Cycle at Assisi," focuses on one of the most divisive and contested areas of studies of the artist, which concerns the authorship of the Life of St. Francis fresco cycle in the Upper Church of Assisi. Zanardi approaches the St. Francis cycle from the perspective of the restorer: how big is the area and how was it painted? He suggests that the number of giornate for the cycle suggest an estimated 534 calendar days for the decoration, with the work carried out in two distinctive phases. Thus, it took roughly 18 months to complete the cycle, but the cycle was neither carried out in narrative sequence, nor was it the responsibility of just one workshop. Instead, Zanardi suggests that workshop teams already engaged in San Francesco moved to work on the St. Francis cycle as and when their other assignments were fulfilled, with at least 3 different workshops contributing to the decoration. He links one of the workshop teams to Pietro Cavallini, but concludes that, based on the primary evidence of the cycle itself, Giotto's hand is not discernible.
William Tronzo shifts the nature of the debate from technical aspects of painting fresco to what was actually painted. In his essay on "Giotto's Figures" the debate moves from Assisi to Padua, the site of one of Giotto's most celebrated masterpieces, Enrico Scrovegni's Arena Chapel. Tronzo's argument focuses on the provenance of Giotto's extraordinary figures: he examines the relationships between classical and medieval art, mainly focusing on sculptural examples. In his view, Giotto's adaptation of classical precedents is remarkable for the way in which the artist adjusts particular figures for maximum iconographical impact. For Tronzo, Giotto's genius manifests itself most clearly not in the usage of classical precedents per se, but in the sensitive and critical selections made from available prototypes.
Gary Radke's essay on "Giotto and Architecture" follows some similar lines of argument, in that Radke looks both at Giotto's actual architectural works (especially the bell tower of Florence Cathedral) as well as his painted architecture (and the ways in which painted architecture defined space within the picture space).
The next three essays (by Cannon, Cook, Miller and Taylor-Mitchell) shift the focus of the book away from the various elements of Giotto's images, and examine instead the spiritual, social and cultural background to Giotto's enduring relationship with the Franciscan Order, arguably his greatest and earliest patron. Joanna Cannon succinctly and authoritatively sets the scene in her chapter on "Giotto and Art for the Friars: Revolutions Spiritual and Artistic." Cannon suggests that one of the appeals of Giotto for the order was an interest he shared with the Franciscans in experimenting with the use of imagery. The friars were interested in the use of images as a means for furthering prayer and meditation. The vividness and immediacy of Giotto's style suited this purpose, as did his willingness to experiment with new forms of painting types. For Cannon, the conjunction of Giotto's artistic talent and the Franciscans' spiritual message was indeed one that resulted in a major spiritual and artistic revolution.
William R. Cook takes up the theme of Giotto's special affinity with the teaching of the Franciscans by focusing on representations of the figure of the founder of the order, St. Francis of Assisi. For Cook, Giotto was instrumental in developing the iconography of St. Francis according to both written, Franciscan sources such as Bonaventura and visual sources that had been established at the mother church of the order in Assisi. This sensitivity to the traditions and concerns of his patrons also served the needs of another collective group of patrons for Giotto, that of the order of the Humiliati.
Julia L. Miller and Laurie Taylor-Mitchell use the case study of "The Ognissanti Madonna and the Humiliati Order in Florence" in order to explore Giotto's response to this important group of patrons. Quite apart from Miller and Taylor-Mitchell's sensitive reading of the imagery of the Ognissanti Madonna itself, this chapter is especially noteworthy in that it contains a succinct account of the Humiliati, a now rather obscure order (suppressed in 1571) but one that assumed some significance during the period of the Renaissance as patrons, and is associated especially with locations in Northern Italy (for example, the Madonna dell'Orto in Venice).
The next chapter, Benjamin G Kohl's contribution on "Giotto and his lay patrons," shifts the focus from religious to lay patronage, with particular focus on one of Giotto's most important early patrons, Enrico Scrovegni of Padua. Kohl's succinct survey of documentation relating to the history of the chapel provides much context for the building and use of the chapel, whose iconography is considered in the next contribution, Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona's chapter on "Reading the Arena Chapel." They suggest that the imagery of the chapel comprises of a unified narrative that illustrates three generations of sacred history, in a perfect illustration of the complexity of understanding of which a Trecento audience was capable. Derbes' and Sandona's reading of the imagery proposes that the imagery has to be read as an expiatory gesture by Scrovegni, who makes (spiritual and material) amends for the usury of his father. Finally, the focus remains on the Arena Chapel with Andrew Ladis' concluding essay on "The Legend of Giotto's Wit and the Arena Chapel," which provides a fitting reminder of just how versatile Giotto was as an artist, and also, how Giotto's art could be, at one and the same time, grandiloquent and pathetic, emotive and didactic, ironic and admonishing.
Maybe this versatility and ability to touch the viewer is what gives his art such an universal and lasting appeal. In any case, the Cambridge Companion to Giotto represents the very best of scholarship on the artist. The essays brought together in this carefully edited volume are of consistently high standard, and for this, the book cannot be recommended enough.