Palm Sunday
Triumphant Entry
The Artist
Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337) was born in Vespignano, Tuscany, and the story is told that the great artist Cimabue encountered the ten year-old Giotto drawing a sheep on a stone and was so impressed that he asked the boy to become his pupil. Whether that story is apocryphal or not, there is good evidence that the young Giotto was trained by Cimabue in Florence. In addition, Giotto would also have been influenced by the sculptures of Nicola and Giovanni Pisano and the mosaicists at work in the Florence baptistery. He appears to have worked in Rome in Santa Maria Maggiore and the Lateran Palace, and in the upper church of San Francesco in Assisi. Giotto is credited with transforming art with his realist approach to painting. Through his Franciscan connections he came to Padua to decorate their chapterhouse and chapel and from he was commissioned to decorate the private chapel of Enrico Scrovegni.
The Artwork
The chapel consists of a single room measuring 20.5 by 8.5 meters and 18.5 meters high, roofed with a tunnel vault. Because the architecture appears to have been designed to suit the needs of the frescoes, some have suggested that Giotto himself may have been the architect. The scenes which cover the north and south walls narrate key events in the life of Christ, beginning with Mary’s parents, St Joachim and St Anne; then episodes from Mary’s own life based on stories in the Apocrypha; followed by events from the childhood, passion and death of Christ. On the west wall is Giotto’s depiction of the Last Judgement. The panel here is number 25 Christ’s Entry to Jerusalem.
Giotto’s Mosaic of Jesus Walking on the Water (heavily restored)
The Arena/Scrovegni Chapel (possibly designed by Giotto)
Model of the Chapel being offered up to the Virgin Mary at the Last Judgement