The Lamentation of Christ by Giotto is one of the scenes in the fresco cycle of the Life of Christ series in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.
When one looks at the painting, one is immediately drawn to the main event of the scene which is Mary, Mother of Jesus cradling the dead body of Jesus on her lap in the foreground left of the centre. They are surrounded by a group of mourners who are all looking at the two of them. Their gazes provide force lines that converged onto Jesus and Mary. The mourners are not just at their sides in the same plane, but also behind and in front of Mary with their backs facing us. This not only gives a sense of space around Jesus and Mary, but also beyond them and between the viewer and the picture plane. This makes the viewer feels that he is involved, that he is part of the picture, standing behind the mourner in green, looking at the scene.
The mourners are painted in realistic style using techniques of modelling to denote plasticity. Giotto had painted the darkest areas with colours of highest saturation and added white to make the lighter areas brighter (Cennini-style) on the drapes of the mourner in peach in the centre and the body of Jesus. He also used cangiantismo, using red for the darker areas of the green robe on the standing figure in the far right. The people appear more real. One could see the folds of the drapes and the contours of their bodies.
The mourners are also painted expressively and one would know that they have feelings of sadness and even despair from their gestures and facial expressions. One is bending over with his arms opened wide as though he could not believe what had happened; another is standing with her head tilt slightly and resting her cheek on her clasped hands. The figures are real and believable.
The individuality of the mourners is accentuated from the use of complementary colours on the drapes of people who are next to each other: green of the sitting mourner in the middle with the red of the blanket under Jesus’ feet; orange and blue on the clothing of the two standing figures at the far right. The numerous people on the left are depicted using red and green to show the separate hoods in the crowd.
This painting shows the scene when Jesus was taken down from the Cross and was received by Mary, Mother of Jesus and the mourners. It was a moment of extreme sadness. The fresco was commissioned by a wealthy Italian named Enrico Scrovegni who intended to use the Scrovegni Chapel as atonement for the sins of his father and possibly also that of himself.
The Scrovegni Chapel fresco of realistic and expressive figures marks the beginning of an art that is radically different from Gothic art of flat and non-expressive figures, going towards Early Renaissance.
Reflection
I enjoyed this exercise very much. I find writing an essay based on a work of art allows me to consolidate my thoughts about the painting, and this makes me feel there is a 'head and tail' to my analysis. The formal analysis allows me to appreciate the painting and see the story it is trying to show, while the contextual analysis allows me to find out what the story that the painting is trying to hide underneath it.
