Giotto, one of the most important artists in the development of Western art.
4, Scenes from The Life Of Joachim — Padua, Arena Chapel
Around 1305 Giotto produced his most influential work, the painted decoration
of the interior of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Enrico degli Scrovegni commissioned the chapel to
serve as a family worship and burial space, even though his parish church was nearby;
its construction caused some concern among the clerics at the Eremitani church next door.
The chapel is externally a very plain building of pink brick, constructed next to an older palace
that Scrovegni was restoring for himself. The palace, now gone, and the chapel were on
the site of a Roman arena, for which reason it is commonly known as the Arena Chapel.
It has been suggested that Enrico commissioned the chapel as penitence for his sin of usury,
which at the time was considered unjust. Dante himself accused Enrico’s father of
the occupation and condemned him in his Divine Comedy.
The theme of the decoration is Salvation and there is an emphasis on the Virgin Mary,
as the chapel is dedicated to the Annunciation and to the Virgin of Charity.
As is common in similar projects in medieval Italy,
the west wall is dominated by the Last Judgement.
The cycle is divided into 37 scenes, arranged around the lateral walls in three tiers,
starting in the upper register with the story of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin,
and continuing with the story of Mary. The Life of Jesus occupies two registers.
The Last Judgment fills the entire pictorial space of the counter-façade.
Much of the blue in the fresco has been worn away by time, because Scrovegni ordered that
the expensive pigment ultramarine blue should be painted on top of the already dry fresco
(secco fresco) to preserve its brilliance. For this reason, it has disintegrated
faster than the other colours that have been fastened within the plaster of the fresco.
An example of this decay can clearly be seen on the robe of Christ as he sits on the donkey.
The six scenes concerning the story of Joachim and Anne, located in the top tier on the right wall,
narrate how Joachim was expelled from the temple due to his childlessness,
explaining how the angel appeared to Anne with news she would bear a child.
The third image tells how Joachim made a sacrificial offering that was pleasing to God.
Next, an angel appears to him in a dream, announcing the arrival of a daughter named Mary.
The series concludes with an illustration of how Joachim returns to Jerusalem, meeting Anne
at the Golden Gate, where Mary is conceived by the embrace of Anne and her ageing husband.
Of particular note in the cycle, the Annunciation to Saint Anne reveals Giotto’s blossoming
development in the depiction of space. The three-dimensional rendering of the
room provides depth for the image, achieving a sense of reality in the depiction of the scene.
The interior and furnishings of the room are delicately portrayed,
while the folds in the maid’s dress also evince a realistic style of representation.
5, Scenes from The Life Of The Virgin — Padua, Arena Chapel
Occupying the upper left wall, opposite the Joachim sequence, are six paintings narrating
events from the Life of the Virgin. They relate the Birth of the Virgin,
the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, the Rods brought before the Temple,
the Prayer of the Suitors, the Marriage of the Virgin and the Wedding Procession.
Giotto has adopted the principle of a single architectural structure
during the sequence of Joachim and the Virgin. The same box-like house is depicted in The Birth
of the Virgin as previously seen in the Joachim cycle image The Annunciation of Saint Anne.
Meanwhile, the same temple is repeated in The Presentation of the Virgin as previously seen
in The Expulsion of Joachim, though this time portrayed from the opposite side.
This repetition of the same structures ensures consistency in the series and allows the artist
to experiment in depicting space with the same objects from various angles.
Up until Giotto’s time, the contemporary art was restricted to the flat plane two-dimensional
works that epitomised Byzantine art. Giotto was the first artist to inspire his
contemporaries with a desire to produce a sense of space in their depictions,
heralding a new form of art that would eventually lead to the wonders of the High Renaissance.
The sequence of the Life of the Virgin continues on the lunette above the chancel
arch and in the sections immediately below and to the sides of the arch.
The chapel was officially dedicated to the event of the Annunciation and this key scene
occurs in the most conspicuous section of wall. In the lunette, God the Father is enthroned,
though this section has not survived well, being badly preserved where part
of the painting also functioned as a door. The angels are carefully positioned to convey
a sense of space, accentuated by the elaborate section of
three-dimensional steps supporting the throne. A striking mosaic pattern, produced in fresco,
adorns these steps, adding to the sense of austere majesty.
The lower section of the fresco concerns the Annunciation itself, related in the
two spandrels on each side of the arch. On the left is Gabriel signalling across to
Mary the news that she will bear the Son of God. Both figures are presented as assured and
solid forms. Mary’s arms are
portrayed with masterful foreshortening, a technique rare at that time in art.
Another innovation of the artist can be seen in his representation of the halos.
When halos were presented as round discs, they often presented a challenge to artists in how to
represent them on figures in profile. Giotto’s solution is to delineate the
halo as an oval shape, once again heightening an illusion of depth.
6, Scenes from The Life Of Christ — Padua, Arena Chapel
The final series of scenes in the Arena Chapel narrate the Life of Christ, starting on the
middle right with five images, before running on to the middle left for another five scenes.
The sequence then returns to the right wall for five images below the previous five and finishes
on the lower right wall in five more scenes. Of particular note in the series are The
Nativity and The Flight into Egypt. In the former, a well-constructed
shed is depicted, which reappears in the following image The Adoration of the Magi,
but from an alternative angle. The structure provides a sense of
depth to the image, conveying the illusion that Mary and her newborn
child project out of the painting, ensuring that it is no simple flat representation.
The Flight into Egypt, one of Giotto’s most famous images, presents the view of a rocky landscape,
with the Virgin and infant Christ filling the very centre of the composition.
The emotive element of the scene is the nurturing presentation of Mary, as she holds Christ
closely to her at this time of difficulty. The baby appears to lean into his mother,
his unusually long arm holding dearly on. The intimate impression is heighted by the
elaborate folds on Mary’s garment and the determined stance of the mother.
Going against the usual conventions adopted by artists at that time, Giotto portrays the Virgin
starkly in profile, her face convincingly natural, breaking away from the medieval
tendency to depict simplistic facial forms. When first unveiled to his contemporaries,
this portrayal of the Virgin would have been surprising for artists still restricted to
the tradition of Byzantine representation. Another famous image, appearing later in the
series, concerns The Kiss of Judas. A dramatic and intense scene,
the traitor Judas Iscariot is presented, as in other scenes in the Life as Christ, as an ugly
man, conforming to the tradition that an evil man most take on an unappealing appearance.
The scene is dominated by Judas’ imposing figure, his large orange robe,
which gains our attention by the portrayal of light and shade given to the rich folds.
The angelic face of Christ juxtaposed to the hideous
face of Judas provides a stark pictorial contrast of the forces of good versus evil.
7, Virtues and Vices — Padua, Arena Chapel Below the final narrative scenes of the Life
of Christ, Giotto painted the allegories of the Seven Virtues (on the right wall)
and their counterpart Seven Vices (on the left wall) in monochrome gray, contrasting
dramatically with the colourful images above. The monochrome frescoes appear as marble statues,
with carefully depicted recesses from which each figure appears to project.
Furthermore, the Virtues tend to face their opposite natures, as the allegories of Justice and
Injustice face each other in the middle, Prudence faces Foolishness and Charity faces Envy.
The most striking Virtue and Vice are Justice and Injustice,
which are larger than the other images. Both allegories are presented as rulers,
with small reliefs on their throne denoting their status as figures of good and evil respectively.
Justice is a beautiful female, seated on a majestic throne, her hands balanced with
scales, connoting fair and equal rule. Alternatively, Injustice is a stern and
cruel looking king, who does not look face on with the viewer, but is instead portrayed in profile,
while his hands tightly grip a pike and sword hilt, stressing his preference for violence.
Beneath him in the lower section of the fresco, a violent crime is being
committed against a sprawled nude female form, identifying the evil of that ruler’s reign.
Due to the bland and dull-hued nature of the Virtues and Vices,
some have questioned Giotto’s authorship. Nevertheless, the notable contrast between
the monochrome figures and the colourful scenes above, increased by the severe depiction of stone,
provides pictorial variety to an otherwise overfilled space of colour and drama.