On Giotto's Artistic Achievement In The Context Of Style

People's consciousness on style developed a long and complex process from sprout to deliberate creation. Style itself is unified in content and form, thought and art of works of art. The Renaissance witnessed more awareness of style. People are impressed by Giotto's works which are composed of the compound models in accordance with the aesthetic tastes about the 13th century. They are harmoniously internalized but clearly distinguish from other styles. This is the initial motivation of the author of the thesis to choose analyzing Giotto and his works.The formation of Giotto style is the manifestation of the maturity of his personal artistic development in his times. However, people's attitudes towards Giotto's artistic achievements and the "Giotto style" are changeable. Admittedly, scholars'attitudes have been relatively objective in the following centuries.Among the studies on art history, the author of the thesis mainly focuses on Wolfflin's study on style change. His gains a unique explanation and description to the style change and his five pair dialectical concepts are of great significance to the study of the thesis. Taking people's increasing awareness on style as the background, the thesis is targeting at explaining Giotto's style in the area of painting and criticism since the early Renaissance. Therefore, the main part of the thesis tentatively employs Wolfflin's theory on style to interpret the works of Giotto and identifies his style. In the writing, the author of the thesis gives emphasis on some of the elaboration and application of Wolfflin's five pair concepts rather than giving equal importance to the whole.The thesis, at first, studies the history of art style characterized with the awareness on style developing from nothing to purpose emphasis then to"style invention"becoming common practice both in the area of art creation and art criticism. Then under this atmosphere, the author explores Giotto's artist images in the early history documents, together with people's views on Giotto's works and changing attitudes towards his style. The discussion on Giotto's works can not be separated with scientific techniques, and what is more, the greatness of the spirit. Thus, the thesis conducts a proper study on the above-mentioned aspects. At last, basing on the practical painting experience and the close study on Giotto's works, employing Wolfflin's theory on style, the author tentatively defines Giotto's works style and expresses the understanding of Giotto's works as well as the inspiration of Giotto's artistic style.