The great storyteller and artist Giorgio Vasari told Giotto’s tale five hundred years ago. He said Giotto was born near Florence to a peasant family. Everybody loved him in the village. His father sent him to herd the sheep flock but he rather drew things onto rocks and the ground. Gustave Moreau’s aquarelle painting is showing this moment.
The boy is sitting on the ground far away from the sheep and reality, with dreamy eyes but determinate lips. We see Florence in the distance, the symbol of every beauty of the world, every glory of an artist. There is no sheep, neither in the painting, nor in his mind. He is wearing the innocence’s white cape. Moreau’s wonderful brushstrokes and the fine watercolor surface create a shining, glorious atmosphere to Giotto’s figure. Like his shining, glorious future life as an artist.
