Giotto (c.1267-1337) is the foremost renovator of Western painting after classical Antiquity. The Tuscan artist was celebrated by his contemporaries, including Dante, and is universally considered one of the greatest artists of all times.

The three Louvre altarpieces are the starting point of the exhibit: the large St. Francis receiving the stigmata, a signed work from Giotto's early years and originally in Pisa, the momumental painted cross, often overlooked because of conservation problems but newly restored, and the noteworthy Crucifixion, key to understand the activity of Giotto and his workshop in Naples around 1330. The latter work had profound iconographic and stylistic influence in France due to the close links between Naple's sovereigns of the time, the Anjou, and their French cousins.

Additional works from French and foreign collections - including drawings, manuscripts and panel paintings - will help shed light on Giotto, his workshop and the liturgical role of his altarpieces.

Text in French.

Contents: Introduction by Dominque Thiébaut; Giotto and the Franciscans by Donald Cooper; Giotto's revolution through the development of new painted crosses and altarpieces by Andrea De Marchi; Catalogue: I. Early career by Dominque Thiébaut; II. Maturity 1300-1335; Padua 1303-1305 by Dominque Thiébaut; Early echoes of Giotto in Florence by Dominque Thiébaut; The years 1315-1325 by Dominque Thiébaut; III. Giotto and his workshop in Naples (1328-1332) by Dominque Thiébaut; Appendix by Elisabeth Ravaud; Bibliography.