Giotto's Arena Chapel
Giotto's Arena Chapel Among the early renaissance artist many left long lasting impressions on the artist to come, but none stood out more than the Florentine painter and architect, Giotto. An outstanding painter, sculptor, and architect he was recognized as the first geniuses of art in the Italian Renaissance. Giotto lived and worked at a time when people were beginning to be freed from the medieval restraints and he dealt in traditional religious subjects, which the people could relate with. Giotto's most famous works is the Arena Chapel in Padua. In the year 1300, Enrico Scrovegni, a wealthy, merchant acquired the ruins of an old Roman arena with an adjoining chapel. Scrovegni wanted to use the chapel as a family place of worship. Five years after he obtained the Arena Chapel, Enrico Scrovegni charged Giotto with the job of painting the interior walls of the chapel. Giotto accepted the job and began work on the chapel immediately. The walls of the chapel were both restricted and asymmetrical due to the six windows on the right wall. Giotto measured and decided to divide the walls into panels of the same size. In the panels Giotto painted a series of thirty-eight frescoes depicting the life of Chris
This was typical of the 15th and 16th centuries and Giotto used this style previously on Campanile in Florence. It is believed to be different because it was designed to relate to the ways of the devotional practices that occurred inside of the chapel on March 25, the feast of the annunciation. Also between the panels of the fake marble are small frescoes imitating sculptors of the seven virtues and seven vices. These to indicators, shoulder length hair and the use of hairpieces, were elements of the contemporary male hairstyle. The Virgin' s face is very mask-like showing no emotion. In The Vision of Joachim, Giotto shows a praying father falling asleep and in a dream an angel comes to announce that his wife Anna is at last going to have a child. The Arena Chapel in Padua is an ever-living memorial to the genius of Giotto and is still to this day thought of as a Renaissance masterpiece. During "Golden Mass", people acted out the annunciation while others sang gospels. Above the archways are pictures of the Last Judgment and the Annunciation. Costumes worn in the Annunciation are also an indicator of theatrical reflection. He concentrated on the grasp of human emotion and of what was significant in human life. The Annunciation shows the Virgin in a very dark interior with little furniture or social indicators. Comparing the Annunciation to the Apparition to Saint Anne can prove this. The Virgin Mary is also kneeling but lacks the implicit dynamism of Saint Anne.
Common topics in this essay:
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rest narrative cycle,
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