Datei:Giotto - Scrovegni - -22- - Christ among the Doctors.jpg

(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

No. 22 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 6. Christ among the Doctors 1304-06 Fresco, 200 x 185 cm Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

The six scenes on the left wall - Christ among the Doctors, the Baptism of Christ, the Marriage at Cana, the Raising of Lazarus, the Entry into Jerusalem, and the Expulsion of the Money-changers from the Temple - have the most solemn narrative tone of all the frescoes, perhaps because they deal with Christ's adult mission.

Christ among the Doctors is the most poorly preserved of all the frescoes in the chapel, but we can still perceive its splendid architectural setting. It was the first of the Paduan frescoes to be set wholly within an interior, and was laid out according to a scheme which recalls Assisi scenes such as the Confirmation of the Rule and St Francis Preaching before Honorius III. It is even more reminiscent of the Apparition to Gregory IX, which has the same, slightly off-centre viewpoint which was determined in both cases by the position of the fresco, the Assisi scene being at the end of its bay, and the Paduan scene next to the entrance, at the far end of the left wall of the chapel.

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Author: GIOTTO di Bondone Title: No. 22 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 6. Christ among the Doctors Time-line: 1301-1350 School: Italian Form: painting