The Scrovegni Chapel looking towards the west end
This is actually our second visit to the Scrovegni Chapel - we briefly visited Padua in 2003, when we were staying in nearby Castelfranco Veneto. In 2003 we just rocked up at the chapel, paid an entrance fee and wandered in to have a look (and did seemingly not take any photos!). Now you have to have booked a timed ticket in advance and start you visit by waiting for 15 minutes in a specially designed air conditioned ante-room (there is an excellent video about the chapel to keep you amused).
The chapel is fairly nondescript from the outside (and because of the surrounding trees, quite hard to photograph).
It was built in around 1300 as the chapel of a palace for the wealthy banker Enrico Scrovegni. The palace and chapel were built on the site of a Roman arena and a fragment of the arena can still be seen. The palace was demolished in 1827, but the chapel mercifully survived. It was covered in magnificent frescoes by the great artist Giotto between 1303 and 1305. This is the Chapel looking towards the altar and the apse.
All the surfaces of the chapel are frescoed. The side walls tell the stories of the life of Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary in a series of sequential panels. Below them are panels in grisaille showing the Vices and Virtues. Here are a couple of typical examples. Firstly, Christ entering Jerusalem in triumph on a donkey ...
... and then the virtues of Justice and Fidelity.
This was a particularly pleasing group at the altar end ...
While at the end opposite the altar there is a splendid Last Judgement.
After 15 minutes you are shepherded out and the next batch of vistors are released from the ant chamber. Short of trying to photograph everything, 15 minutes turns out to be enough to get a strong sense of the Chapel and indelible memories to treasure.
We then went round the nearby Eremitani, the Civic Fine Art museum located in the former convent of the Eremitani. The content are based around the collection of a wealthy merchant, Nichola Bottecin, which was donated in the 1860s.
There were a couple of small panels by the great Giorgione, but not in great condition. The highlights were some lovely pictures by a female artist whose name I was sure I would remember, but now cannot ...
... a pictures of angels presumably arranged as they once were in a chapel ...
... and a crucifix by Giotto.
But the real highlight was this beautiful painting by Andrea Mantegna.
Rating: five stars for the Scrovegni Chapel, four for the Eremiti.
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