Scrovegni << skroh VAY nee >> Chapel , in Padua, Italy, is the site of a series of frescoes by the Italian painter Giotto and his assistants. A fresco is a painting made on damp plaster, using pigments mixed with water. The frescoes in Scrovegni Chapel, painted from about 1303 to 1305, rank among the most influential masterpieces in Western art.
The chapel is named for a family of Paduan merchants called Scrovegni. Enrico Scrovegni built the private chapel for his family. It is also called the Arena Chapel because it is near an ancient Roman amphitheater known as the Arena. The chapel is a simple room with several windows and a round ceiling.
Giotto covered the entrance wall to the chapel with a scene portraying the Last Judgment. On the side walls, Giotto painted scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary and from the life of Jesus Christ. All the scenes are represented in individual panels. The ceiling is painted as a brilliantly blue starry sky with portrait discs of Jesus, Mary, and a number of prophets that seem to float in the heavens.
The panels show Giotto’s genius at painting natural and simple compositions in a moving but restrained way. His interest in the natural world was strikingly different from the formulas of medieval painting. Giotto’s realistic style revolutionized painting in Italy and became a strong influence on the Renaissance masters of the 1400’s.
