Giotto’s Joy

When in Venice a great day trip is to Padua, merely half an hour away by train. There one finds one of the great masterpieces of European art: the Scrovegni Chapel, with frescoes by Giotto. I was so happy to go there last week and find that they’d rescinded their earlier prohibition against photography in the chapel. Here’s a detail from the scene of the Miracle at Cana, where Christ has turned water into wine. The Virgin Mary is also attending the wedding feast. I love this scene because whenever there’s a big party there’s always party-crashers, and here are two striding into view from the right. You can see the Virgin Mary in the middle (in blue) and almost can hear her say: “Who the heck are these guys? They weren’t invited”.  They’re hilariously typical. The leader is a big fellow who has already grabbed a cup and started drinking, while his sidekick holds on to his sleeve, not quite as confident. I like to think of the big guy as ‘Guido’. His swelling belly echoes the curves of the full containers of wine just below him. Giotto really had a sense of humor. Mary’s blue robe is flaking because that particular colour blue was not water soluble, so could not be used in buon fresco or true fresco (that is, pigments painted on wet plaster), but had to be applied after the plaster dried, al secco (dry). Thus the paint could not securely bind with the wall. Similarly, the party-crasher’s cup is black, but it was quite possibly silver leaf originally. It must’ve been impressive when new, but the silver eventually oxidized to leave a black stain.