I’ve waited to see the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua for many years, and our evening visit did not disappoint. The chapel is located where a Roman arena once stood, as did the Scrovegni’s palazzo, which was torn down in the 1820s.

I love the way Giotto uses color, even using lapis lazuli pigment in the blue sky. Even though perspective in painting had not yet been formalized, Giotto was pioneering the practice. He also uses light in ways that seem to bring his frescoes to life in ways that no earlier painter had. Giotto (and his assistants) painted the chapel in two years, from 1303 to 1305. Rather than say he presaged he Renaissance, I think it is fairer to Giotto to appreciate his art for itself. Clearly, Renaissance painters were standing on the shoulders of giants.

I’m not going to do much analysis of these pictures, other than to say we know what they meant: they were an attempt to buy salvation for someone who apparently did not “forgive his debtors as he wished to have his debts forgiven.” The narrative they tell mirrors the historic creeds: born of virgin, suffered, was crucified and rose again. Not much on what happened between his baptism and the last week. Hmmm…

The other thing I have not included is the uppermost register, which is a retelling of the extracanonical story of Mary, her parents, marriage, etc. The lowest register shows virtues on one side along with their corollary vices on the opposite wall. I also have not zhuzhed up the color like some books have done (or even like the iPhone’s algorithm). I have brightened a few since I shot these at night. Enjoy!