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Giotto di Bondone was born in 1267 in the village of Vespignano, Italy near Florence. His father was a farmer. Growing up he showed great wit and was a practical joker. He later married and had six children. Throughout his life, he saved his money and was regarded as a rich man. He was on friendly terms with the Pope as well as King Robert of Naples. There are two stories of how Giotto was discovered as an artist. Giorgio Vasari, one of Giotto’s first biographers, explains how Giotto was discovered in the following story. When Giotto was 12 years old, Cimabue, a well-known Florentine painter, discovered Giotto’s talents while he was sketching one of his father’s sheep on a flat rock. Cimabue was so impressed with Giotto’s talent that he persuaded the father to let him become his pupil. Another story was that, while Giotto was an apprentice to a wool merchant in Florence, he visited Cimabue’s studio so much that he was finally allowed to study painting. Giotto was an extraordinary painter, sculptor, and architect. He introduced new ideals of naturalism and created a sense of pictorial space. Other famous artists in Giotto’s time expressed their pleasure and excitement over Giotto’s work. Dante praised h