"It is said that when Giotto was only a boy with Cimabue, he once painted a fly on the nose of a face that Cimabue had drawn, so naturally that the master returning to his work tried more than once to drive it away with his hand, thinking it was real. And I might tell you of many other jests played by Giotto, but of this enough." — Vasari, Lives of the Artists (1550)
c. 1267 – 1337
This is a Mary like we’ve never seen before—she’s more monumental and sits in a space that makes sense.
Take a tour of the Arena Chapel in virtual reality—it's almost as good as being there in person!
Like a comic without words, these frescoes tell the story of Christ and his parents—and give their patron a cameo.
Only decades apart—but what a difference. Next to Giotto’s substantial Virgin, Cimabue’s appears flat yet elegant.
Christ sits as Judge, separating the blessed from the damned. In Hell, money lenders—like Scrovegni—appear hanged.
In this powerful scene, Mary cradles the dead Christ. A simple landscape and mourning crowd direct us to her grief.
With their emotion, gestures, mass, and volume, Giotto’s people seem real—and time moves with them.
Painting covers every inch of this chapel, from the spiraling narrative cycle to the star-studded blue sky.
Hooked thumbs, pressing elbows, open mouths—these details lend intimacy and reality to an otherwise formal scene.
Is that fear in his eyes? Saint Francis betrays human emotions as Giotto unites the earthly and heavenly realms.
