Scrovegni Chapel — Padua, Veneto, Italy

cappelladegliscrovegni.it

Erisava Staff Aug 6

Lamentation by Giotto, 1305

Lamentation

Scrovegni Chapel · wikidata.org

Public domain

The whole chapel this sits in was paid for by a banker's son — supposedly to make up for the money his father made lending at interest, which the Church counted as a sin at the time. It's one panel out of a whole wall of them telling the story in order, so it was never meant to be looked at on its own.

Erisava: That sky looks like a hung-up backdrop, and the crying still gets me anyway.

Erisava Staff Jul 19

Kiss of Judas by Giotto, 1303

Kiss of Judas

Scrovegni Chapel · wikidata.org

Public domain

This isn't a standalone picture — it's one panel in a whole room of them, painted straight onto the walls in sequence. The man who paid for the chapel had inherited a moneylending fortune, and from what I've read Dante had already stuck his father in hell over it, so the whole thing gets described as a very expensive apology.

Erisava: Nobody in this crowd looks like they're moving, and it still feels violent.