LITTLE COLLECTOR

In his Lives of The Artists, Giorgio Vasari, recounts a story that likely occurred at some time in the 1280’s, when Cimabue was absent from the workshop, his young apprentice, Giotto, painted such a lifelike fly on the face of the painting that Cimabue was working on, that he tried several times to brush it off upon his return to the studio. This very much impressed the master painter that Giotto’s reputation as a... More

In his Lives of The Artists, Giorgio Vasari, recounts a story that likely occurred at some time in the 1280’s, when Cimabue was absent from the workshop, his young apprentice, Giotto, painted such a lifelike fly on the face of the painting that Cimabue was working on, that he tried several times to brush it off upon his return to the studio. This very much impressed the master painter that Giotto’s reputation as a great painter was forever sealed. Though scholars today are uncertain about Giotto's actual training, and claim this story is more legend than fact, it was enough for Marc to be inspired to paint his own version of this "Giotto legend" by painting a life-like fly on the side of a mylar tiger as kind of attraction for his daughter who not only loves mylar animal balloons but also enjoys finding bugs in odd places. And as fate would have it, the painting today is one of the more esteemed private collections in the world, installed on the wall of their daughter's room. Short