SCROVEGNI CHAPEL

Scrovegni Chapel in Padua

Between March 1303 and March 1305 Enrico Scrovegni had the Chapel dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin built next to the family palace (which today is no longer in exisistence): a votive chapel for the soul of his father Reginaldo who was placed in hell by Dante as he was a usurer.

The interior has a single nave covered by a barrel vault and was frescoed by Giotto with stories of the Virgin and Christ. The cycle is composed of thirty-eight scenes which are on three levels along the side walls. on the presbytery arch and on the walls of the facade where a magnificent Universal Judgement is depicted.

The ceiling is decorated with starry heavens which have medallions showing Christs face and martyrs and prophets. The work constitutes Giottos greatest work of art, in which the painter truly opens up a new era in the history of art, proposing a new revolutionary rapport between figure and pic- torial space which definitely sur- passes the Byzantine model. In the apse, on the altar, the Madonna and Child in a tender, human pose between two angels, was painted by Giovanni Pisano.

info : www. cappella degli scrovegni .it