Interactive comment on “ St . Francis and Giotto : the saint and the artist who started the ecological movement

The thematic content of this paper is very interesting with significant interpretative ideas including, in particular, the innovative concept of Nature identified in Giotto’s paintings as an ecological reading of the life of San Francesco. However, the chapters should be reviewed and organized according to the rules of scientific work. 1) A general introduction to the rich bibliography related to Geology and Art (Cultural Geology) would be appropriate. 2) An indispensable chapter on methodology is also missing. The reader should be guided to understand how the comparisons between the paintings and the landscapes have been made. If the method is speculative / intuitive or based on scientific analyses. In they last case would be helpful to refer to geological studies conducted on the area where those landscapes have originated. 3) It is necessary to frame the area from a geological point of view. It would be the case to refer in the text

The thematic content of this paper is very interesting with significant interpretative ideas including, in particular, the innovative concept of Nature identified in Giotto's paintings as an ecological reading of the life of San Francesco. However, the chapters should be reviewed and organized according to the rules of scientific work. 1) A general introduction to the rich bibliography related to Geology and Art (Cultural Geology) would be appropriate. 2) An indispensable chapter on methodology is also missing. The reader should be guided to understand how the comparisons between the paintings and the landscapes have been made. If the method is speculative / intuitive or based on scientific analyses. In they last case would be helpful to refer to geological studies conducted on the area where those landscapes have originated. 3) It is necessary to frame the area from a geological point of view. It would be the case to refer in the text C1 to the last figures of the paper 18-19-20 and devote a paragraph to the geology of the area even for non-specialists, in a simple but rigorous way. The text completely lacks historical-literary citations on the landscape during the Middle Ages. This prevents the reader from understanding what is said in an original way by the author or "already said" by other researchers.
I consider this paper important and I hope for its publication. For this reason, I recommend the author to follow the previous suggestions and the reviews to the text that I indicate as follows: 30-31 Please note that other regions of Italy are dotted with Franciscan convents, including the Marche and Emilia Romagna 64 The Idea of Nature in the Middle Ages This is a very interesting chapter on the concept of Nature in the Middle Ages, and it would need a reference to one / two fundamental works on this concept. 69 Please add reference for the method called "anagoge" 92 Fig. 1 The map corresponds only to a part of the Franciscan monasteries, as there are famous monasteries built precisely by the will of Francis also in Emilia Romagna and in the Marche regions. Please note that these could also be relevant for the present study.
103 "It was built with indigenous pink Subasio limestone" please provide references 113 -114 "Giotto's works were so revolutionary that today he is considered the founder of Renaissance Art". Please provide some references.
117-118 "Instead, he made them more realistic by using proportions and shading for volume". Please provide some references.
131 "Interest in perspective had been lost in the preceding centuries". Since when it was lost?
C2 136-140 "the two artists. . .medieval viewer" Can this be a first, shy approach to detail that will emerge only later in the Renaissance with Piero della Francesca? 156-157 I consider this concept very important, and it would be interesting to develop this with respect to the several studies on the topic. 164 We suggest remove the regions (Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany) leaving only "Central Italy".
175 insert the number of the figures. 176 1.4 St. Francis Preaching to the Bird. The reason for the description of this fresco at this point of the paper is not understood. I suggest an appropriate introduction to justify this chapter. Please include the reference to Figure 3 177-179 "In Byzantine art, the background was usually gold, a glorious, expensive color which invoked a sense of awe of the Divine and, as a result, kept the viewer at a reverential distance" Please provide some reference 195-200 I suggest to move these sentences at the beginning of the chapter so it can better understood why this fresco is inserted. 346-347 The geology of this region has been studied and known for a long time. It is C3 necessary to insert an adequate bibliography easily available on the net. So please make references to some geological works in this sense and indicate which studies indicate that "Mt. Penna (Fig. 13)  While in the previous paintings it can be said that the geology present in the backgrounds represents the local one (Greccio and La Verna), in this fresco it is more difficult to say that the small town is Assisi. San Francesco is clearly traveling and this village could also be in areas further away from Umbria (for example in Emilia Romagna, where the morphology of the cliffs is very similar to that of the fresco). The Franciscan convent of Assisi for example is not on a hill in front of the city but inside the inhabited area. A detailed historical research on the places visited by Giotto would be necessary.