Giotto and his Works in Padua

By John Ruskin

“The Arena Chapel in Padua was completed in 1303; Giotto, then considered the preeminent painter in Italy, was commissioned to paint it in 1306. The resulting fresco cycle, detailing the history, birth, life, and death of Christ, ranks among the greatest artworks ever created.

John Ruskin helped redefine art criticism in the nineteenth century through his attention to detail, his playful and engaging prose, and the conviction with which he discussed the subjects that mattered most to him. Ruskin’s ekphrastic writing became a way for readers to approach the experience of looking at great art without actually seeing it in person. Despite having written about Giotto on numerous occasions in Stones of Venice and Modern Painters, he never treated the Arena Chapel in its own right. Here Ruskin examines the panels and brings them life, describing their many hidden details, all the result of Giotto’s unrivaled genius. As Ruskin says, “Giotto was…one of the greatest men who ever lived.”

Long out of print, the Arundel Society first published Giotto and His Works in Padua between 1853 and 1860. It stands as Ruskin’s most compelling set of reflections on Giotto’s masterpiece—an artwork that, in Ruskin’s estimation, changed the very course of art history…The result is a book that serves not only as an introduction for students of art history, but also as a discussion of what it means to be a great artist, by one of most influential writers ever to tackle visual art.”-Print ed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Braunfell Books
• Release date: Mar 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781805231646

Book preview

cover.jpgimg1.png

© Braunfell Books 2023, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

EDITORIAL NOTE, 1899. 7

AUTHOR’S NOTE TO THE FIRST EDITION (1854). 9

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 10

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA. 12

SERIES OF SUBJECTS. 32

I. — THE REJECTION OF JOACHIM’S OFFERING. 34

II. — JOACHIM RETIRES TO THE SHEEPFOLD. 37

III. — THE ANGEL APPEARS TO ANNA. 40

IV. — THE SACRIFICE OF JOACHIM. 43

V. — THE ANGEL (RAPHAEL) APPEARS TO JOACHIM. 46

VI. — THE MEETING AT THE GOLDEN GATE. 49

VII. — THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN. 51

VIII. — THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN. 54

IX. — THE RODS ARE BROUGHT TO THE HIGH-PRIEST. 57

X. — THE WATCHING OF THE RODS AT THE ALTAR. 60

XI. — THE BETROTHAL OF THE VIRGIN. 63

XII. — THE VIRGIN MARY RETURNS TO HER HOUSE. 66

XIII. — THE ANNUNCIATION.—THE ANGEL GABRIEL. 69

XIV. — THE ANNUNCIATION.—THE VIRGIN MARY. 71

XV. — THE SALUTATION. 73

XVI. — THE NATIVITY. 77

XVII. — THE WISE MEN’S OFFERING. 81

XVIII. — THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 84

XIX. — THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 87

XX. — MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. 90

XXI. — THE YOUNG CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE. 93

XXII. — THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST. 96

XXIII. — THE MARRIAGE IN CANA. 101

XXIV. — THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. 104

XXV. — THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. 107

XXVI. — THE EXPULSION FROM THE TEMPLE. 110

XXVII. — THE HIRING OF JUDAS. 113

XXVIII. — THE LAST SUPPER. 116

XXIX. — THE WASHING OF THE FEET. 119

XXX. — THE KISS OF JUDAS. 122

XXXI. — CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS. 125

XXXII. — THE SCOURGING OF CHRIST. 127

XXXIII. — CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS. 130

XXXIV. — THE CRUCIFIXION. 133

XXXV. — THE ENTOMBMENT. 136

XXXVI. — THE RESURRECTION. 139

XXXVII. — THE ASCENSION. 141

XXXVIII. — THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 143

APPENDIX. 146

THE LAST JUDGMENT. 147

THE VIRTUES AND VICES. 151

PRUDENCE. 152

FORTITUDE. 155

TEMPERANCE. 158

JUSTICE. 161

FAITH. 164

CHARITY. 167

HOPE. 170

DESPAIR. 173

ENVY. 175

INFIDELITY. 178

INJUSTICE. 181

ANGER. 184

INCONSTANCY. 187

FOLLY. 189

THE CHOIR. 192

NORTH WALL. 192

SOUTH WALL. 192

img2.pngimg3.jpg

GIOTTO

AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA

BEING

AN EXPLANATORY NOTICE OF THE

FRESCOES IN THE ARENA CHAPEL

BY

JOHN RUSKIN, LL.D., D.C.L.

HONORARY STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH, AND HONORARY

FELLOW OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

EDITORIAL NOTE, 1899.

THIS work owes its existence to the Arundel Society, who in the years 1853-60 issued a series of thirty-eight large woodcuts, reproductions of the majority of the frescoes in the Arena Chapel at Padua. These appeared gradually, and as they were completed, Mr. Ruskin’s explanatory notice of them was also gradually written, and published by the Society. Ultimately the work consisted of two volumes, viz., first, a large atlas containing, with a title-page and list of subjects, the thirty-eight woodcuts, and secondly, a thin volume (post 8vo) containing Mr. Ruskin’s introduction and account of the frescoes, together with two plans of the chapel, and a woodcut of the Baptism of Christ from a thirteenth century missal.{1} The title-page of the volume of illustrations was also decorated with a vignette of a portion of the fresco of The Last Judgment.

The work, which has never been republished, now appears in a new and more complete form, with the advantage of modern methods of reproduction. The woodcuts of the Arundel Society were from drawings of the frescoes; the present illustrations are from photographs of the frescoes themselves. Both methods fail, of course, in some instances. Thus in the old woodcuts the copyist occasionally missed a fact, or failed to catch an expression, or give some detail, as, for instance, in No. IV. where he has not given the male figure rising from the flames of the altar, and in No. XXVI. where he has omitted the scourge in the hand of Christ. The illustrations in the present volume give every detail, with the fulness and accuracy of a photograph. They fail sometimes to give the tone,—a dark blue background, for instance, appearing in a lighter tone, as in Nos. X. and XII.,—and they necessarily suffer from the great reduction in size.{2} When, however, it is remembered that the figures in the original frescoes are life-size, and that the present reproductions are reduced from photographs of the frescoes some five times as large as the reproductions, there must be rather surprise at their adequacy than complaint of any failure.

They have in each case been carefully compared both with the larger photograph and the old woodcut, and, while the text of the book remains quite unchanged,{3} notes have now and again been added by the editor, calling attention to matters of detail, or to some point not noticed by Mr. Ruskin, who wrote with the woodcut and not the fresco before him. A full index is also added.

For another reason the present edition is more complete than the old one. The publications of the Arundel Society contain no woodcuts of—and only a bare reference to—the frescoes of Christ in Glory, The Last Judgment, and the fourteen Virtues and Vices. These are all now reproduced, the Christ in Glory as a frontispiece (see p. 53 n.) and the rest in an Appendix, together with a brief explanatory notice of each fresco, as given by Lord Lindsay in his Christian Art, and by Mr. Ruskin himself either in the Stones of Venice, or, later, in Fors Clavegera and Val d'Arno. It is, therefore, hoped that this volume is a complete and worthy record of the chapel which has been described as not only the most perfect expressional work, but the prettiest piece of wall decoration and fair colour in North Italy.{4}

AUTHOR’S NOTE TO THE FIRST EDITION (1854).

THE following notice of Giotto has not been drawn up with any idea of attempting a history of his life. That history could only be written after a careful search through the libraries of Italy for all documents relating to the years during which he worked. I have no time for such search, or even for the examination of well-known and published materials; and have therefore merely collected, from the sources nearest at hand, such information as appeared absolutely necessary to render the series of Plates now published by the Arundel Society intelligible and interesting to those among its Members who have not devoted much time to the examination of mediaeval works. I have prefixed a few remarks on the relation of the art of Giotto to former and subsequent efforts; which I hope may be useful in preventing the general reader from either looking for what the painter never intended to give, or missing the points to which his endeavours were really directed.

J. R.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Christ in Glory

The Rejection of Joachim’s Offering

Joachim retires to the Sheepfold

The Angel appears to Anna

The Sacrifice of Joachim

The Vision of Joachim

The Meeting at the Golden Gate

The Birth of the Virgin

The Presentation of the Virgin

The Rods are brought to the High Priest

The Watching of the Rods

The Betrothal of the Virgin

The Virgin returns to her House

The Angel Gabriel

The Virgin Annunciate

The Salutation

The Angel appearing to the Shepherds (The Nativity)

The Wise Men’s Offering

The Presentation in the Temple

The Flight into Egypt

The Massacre of the Innocents

The Young Christ in the Temple

The Baptism of Christ

The same from an MSS., 1290

The Marriage in Cana

The Raising of Lazarus

The Entry into Jerusalem

The Expulsion from the Temple

The Hiring of Judas

The Last Supper

The Washing of the Feet

The Kiss of Judas

Christ before Caiaphas

The Scourging of Christ

Christ bearing His Cross

The Crucifixion

The Entombment

The Resurrection

The Ascension

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA.

1. TOWARDS the close of the thirteenth century, Enrico Scrovegno, a noble Paduan, purchased, in his native city, the remains of the Roman Amphitheatre or Arena from the family of the Delesmanini, to whom those remains had been granted by the Emperor Henry III. of Germany in 1090. For the power of making this purchase, Scrovegno was in all probability indebted to his father, Reginald, who, for his avarice, is placed by Dante in the seventh circle of the Inferno, and regarded apparently as the chief of the usurers there, since he is the only one who addresses Dante.{5} The son, having possessed himself of the Roman ruin, or of the site which it had occupied, built himself a fortified palace upon the ground, and a chapel dedicated to the Annunciate Virgin.

2. This chapel, built in or about the year 1303,{6} appears to have been intended to replace one which had long existed on the spot; and in which, from the year 1278, an annual festival had been held on Lady-day, in which the Annunciation was represented in the manner of our English mysteries (and under the same title: "una sacra rappresentazione di quel mistero"), with dialogue, and music both vocal and instrumental. Scrovegno’s purchase of the ground could not be allowed to interfere with the