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

Scenes from the Life of St John the Baptist: 2. Birth and Naming of the Baptist

c. 1315
Fresco, 280 x 450 cm
Peruzzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence

This picture field contains two scenes, which Giotto unites by way of the architecture and the domestic environment common to both. On the right, we can see Elizabeth, Johns mother, in labour, and on the left, his father, who is writing his name on a tablet. The world of this house is characterized by women: by women in expensive clothing, who appear considerably more urban than the women in the frescoes at Padua.