Bones Under Church May Be Giotto's
R O M E, Nov. 20 -- Almost 700 years after his death, the remains ofpre-Renaissance painter Giotto can’t rest in peace. That is, ifthey really are Giotto’s remains.
A scholarly war is raging over a skeleton found under Florence’sDuomo cathedral. One side says it is the man renowned as the fatherof European painting. The other says it’s not.
Despite the dispute, the city has decided to go ahead with aceremonial burial on Jan. 8, the anniversary of Giotto’s death. Ithad been put on hold after an American archaeologist, FranklinToker, said the bones weren’t Giotto’s
“Let’s not render honor to the bones of some fat butcher,” hepleaded in a letter to Florence’s Archbishop Silvano Piovanelli.
“What Kind of Science Is This?”
Toker, a professor of art history at the University ofPittsburgh, took part in the excavations that unearthed the bonesin the 1970s. He doesn’t believe they are Giotto’s
On the other side of the debate are author Stefano Sieni andFrancesco Mallegni, an anthropology and paleontology professor atthe universities of Pisa and Palermo. They base theiridentification on an analysis of the skeleton. Reconstructing theface, they came up with a strong likeness to what may or may not bea Giotto self-portrait in a fresco.
“What kind of science is this?” Toker demanded in a telephoneinterview. “You take the bones, take the fresco and make the bust.You can produce anyone that way.”
Sieni concurred “any face” might have emerged, but “Giotto’swas the one that in fact did.”
Although he attained fame in his lifetime, little is known aboutGiotto’s life. Scholars think he died in Florence in 1337, probablyat age 70.
Sieni’s reconstruction came up with a short, squarely built man— a well-nourished person who was probably affluent. Indentationsin the teeth, Sieni maintains, were made by paintbrushes held inthe mouth.
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