La bruttezza di Giotto. Boccaccio e il naturalismo pittorico

The essay traces the fortunes of the figure of the ugly artist from the classical age to the seventeenth century, focusing on Boccaccio’s description of Giotto’s ugliness as a founding moment of a theory of art that recognizes in the extraordinary naturalism of Giotto’s painting a referential model. Drawing on some recent studies that have linked the description of the artist’s body to art criticism, this essay interprets the topical figure of the ugly artist, recurring in literature and artistic writings, as a symbol of a naturalistic idea of art.