Giotto

American  

[jot-oh, jawt-taw] / ˈdʒɒt oʊ, ˈdʒɔt tɔ /

noun

1. Giotto di Bondone, 1266?–1337, Florentine painter, sculptor, and architect.

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Giotto ¹ British  

/ ˈdʒɔtəʊ /

noun

1. a European spacecraft that intercepted the path of Halley's comet in March 1986, gathering data and recording images, esp of the comet's nucleus

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Giotto ² British  

/ ˈdʒɔtto /

noun

1. also known as Giotto di Bondone. ?1267–1337, Florentine painter, who broke away from the stiff linear design of the Byzantine tradition and developed the more dramatic and naturalistic style characteristic of the Renaissance: his work includes cycles of frescoes in Assisi, the Arena Chapel in Padua, and the Church of Santa Croce, Florence

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Giotto Cultural  

1. An Italian painter and architect of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Art in Italy before the time of Giotto was heavily influenced by the art of the Byzantine Empire and was highly stylized; it resembled the icons in Byzantine churches. Giotto was the first painter to abandon Byzantine ways and begin to depict more lifelike expressions and figures.

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Example Sentences

"Perhaps the greatest emotion is feeling a bit as if you were up on the scaffolding with Giotto... retracing the creative phases in the making of a masterpiece like this," she said.

From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026

One of those lesser-known painters is Palmerino di Guido, who assisted Giotto in decorating the celebrated St. Nicholas and Magdalen Chapels in the basilica’s lower church.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026

Garabedian assumes the fatherly supporting role of St. Joseph, the carpenter, shown in the background building a domestic shelter reminiscent of those in Renaissance nativities by Giotto or Botticelli.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2023

The scene may have summoned to some minds famous paintings by artists like Giotto, Titian, Caravaggio and Dürer of mourning crowds surrounding Jesus as he is taken down from the cross or entombed.

From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2023

If it had, Giotto would have completed the perspectival revolution, Brunelleschi’s images would have been unnecessary, and Alberti would have had nothing new to say.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton