1. Giotto's appointment as head of the Florence Cathedral workshop in 1334 marked a turning point in the fortunes of the art of painting. The position had only been held by architects and sculptors prior to this time. But Giotto's advances in the art of painting were so remarkable that he earned this influential position. The potential inherent in Giotto's innovations (as much as the quality of the innovations themselves) were instrumental in making painting the dominant art of the Italian Renaissance. The advances Giotto made were steadily improved upon and by the time linear perspective was invented its ready incorporation into painting was a prime argument for the elevation of the craft of painting to a position as one of the liberal arts.
In the view of Renaissance Humanists, based on somewhat exaggerated ancient literary accounts, realism was the outstanding trait of ancient painting. Thus it was the growing realism of painting that enhanced its stature. Much of this stemmed, of course, from Giotto's innovative approach to volume, space, psychology, and realistic depiction of the world in general. In most senses, of course, he was primarily responsible for clarifying the problems. The stage-like space in his Lamentation (1305-6) and other frescoes in the Arena and Bardi Chapels was created primarily by the overlapping of the figures (rather than by landscape or architecture). But these figures were so much more convincing in terms of volumes than earlier examples that his space is far more convincing as well. Giotto's example led to the investigations of, for example, the Lorenzetti--who attacked interior spaces, landscapes, and cityscapes, raising ever more problems. The problem-solving aspect of realistic painting which began, largely, with Giotto, as well as the absence of any restrictive classical examples made painting into a major art often surpassing sculpture and architecture in interest and creativity for ...