Postcard Vespignano - Predella of Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata (detail)

Giotto di Bondone, known as Giotto, is a painter, sculptor and architect from Florence. He is one of the masters of the Trecento, the pre-Renaissance Italian period of the 14th century, which heralded the major changes that would take place during the Renaissance. Giotto's work is characterised by a figurative naturalism, he also gives his painting narrative principles that contrast with the methods of his contemporaries and breaks with the Byzantine influence. Moreover, by paying particular attention to his characters and individualising them, Giotto gives a breath of realism to his works and offers an innovative vision of man. Vasari said of him that he "was the one who resurrected the art of painting, forgotten for so many years".