Giotto saw in art what others did not put into it. He brought forth naturalistic art and gracefulness. — sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti

So much travelling! I am writing this at altitude 2700 metres, in the Annapurna mountains in the west of Nepal. But I am thinking about a remarkable experience in Venice a month ago, where I saw the very first kisses ever represented in western art.

These first two kisses are painted in the famous frescoes by Giotto, painted in the Scrovegni Chapel around 1305. The frescoes are 720 years old.

What?! 720 years old?! It is mind-blowing to think that these paintings are so old — because they seem so modern, so human, so fresh...

In fact that is what "fresco" means, the paint has to go onto the plaster when it is fresh, before it dries.

Giovanni Boccaccio said in 1353 about Giotto:

... so faithful did he remain to nature . . . that whatever he depicted had the appearance, not of a reproduction, but of the thing itself.

Sounds like a really good movie, right?

Here a…