GIOTTO di Bondone
(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

No. 33 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 17. Mocking of Christ

1304-06
Fresco, 200 x 185 cm
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

The contrast between the caricature-like figures and the introverted Christ, who has had the royal mantle wrapped round him in mockery, could not be greater. Two completely different worlds are depicted in the one picture. As in all the scenes which follow his arrest, Giotto also shows Christ here as a changed character: submissive and lacking all vitality.