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The Arts Intel Report

Giotto's Arena Chapel

Apr 9, 2020 – Dec 31, 2021

Both charming and profound, Giotto’s frescos in Padua’s Arena Chapel are renowned as his greatest creation. The chapel was built by the Scrovegni family of bankers, an act of “good work” meant to atone for the sin of usury. Inside the chapel Giotto painted sequential scenes that narrate the life of Christ, beginning with the grandparents of Jesus and ending with the Last Judgement. Weight, roundness, drama! Naive scale and Easter-egg colors! And oh the faces, such true expressions. This four-part video analysis of Giotto’s visual storytelling is wonderfully narrated by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris. —L.J.