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

No. 16 Scenes from the Life of the Virgin: 7. Visitation

1306
Fresco, 150 x 140 cm
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

The pregnant Mother of God and her two companions visit Elizabeth, who is expecting John the Baptist. The two women embrace in front of the portico. As so often, Giotto places the intensity of the encounter in the exchange of glances. Beneath this fresco, the wall, decorated with painted marble, appears to open up: Giotto here shows us a view of a chapel with cross-rib vaulting and a narrow Gothic window. A chandelier hangs from the vertex of the vault defining the depth of this unusual, illusionistically painted space.

The figure in the right was strongly damaged by the humidity.




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