A fresco cycle painted by Giotto di Bondone between 1303 and 1305 covering the entire interior of the Scrovegni Chapel, also called the Arena Chapel for its site beside the ruins of a Roman arena, in Padua, Italy. Enrico Scrovegni commissioned the chapel, and it is widely read by historians as made in part to atone for wealth his family had accumulated through usury. The cycle unfolds in horizontal bands: the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ along the side walls and triumphal arch, a band of personified Vices and Virtues along the lower walls, and a monumental Last Judgment across the entrance wall. It is regarded as a turning point in Western painting for its naturalistic figures and emotional narrative staging.
Facts
Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectThe lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ, from Joachim's expulsion from the Temple through the Passion and Resurrection, personifications of the Vices and Virtues along the lower walls, and a monumental Last Judgment on the entrance wall. 1 Devotional FunctionA private family chapel's devotional decoration, read by historians as also serving a penitential function: the Scrovegni fortune was built substantially on usury, and commissioning the chapel is widely understood as an act meant to help secure the family's spiritual standing. 2 Origins
Date of Creation Commissioned ByEnrico Scrovegni, of the wealthy Paduan Scrovegni family 2 Attributed To Medium (class) Custody
Current LocationScrovegni Chapel (Cappella degli Scrovegni), Padua, Italy 1 Current CustodianMusei Civici di Padova, City of Padua 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThe frescoes themselves are centuries past any copyright term, but a specific modern photograph of them carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 2 Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Derived: this work depicts a figure already recorded as belonging to this tradition; the work-to-tradition link is inferred from that live depicts edge and the figures own attested tradition affiliation, not independently sourced beyond it.
Source Arena Chapel (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Depicts
Jesus, Figures Source Frescoes in the Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua (Web Gallery of Art)
In the Other Atlases
Authored By
Also in Arts and Music Atlas: the author of this subject.
Source Scrovegni Chapel (Wikipedia)Lead sentenceQuote, Lead sentence
The chapel contains a fresco cycle by Giotto, completed around 1305 and an important masterpiece of Western art.
Sources
1. Frescoes in the Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua (Web Gallery of Art)
2. Arena Chapel (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Encyclopaedia Britannicacatalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A fresco cycle painted by Giotto di Bondone between 1303 and 1305 covering the entire interior of the Scrovegni Chapel, also called the Arena Chapel for its site beside the ruins of a Roman arena, in Padua, Italy.
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