the sisters are not yet aware, as the viewer is, that Lazarus’s eyes and lips are
already opening.
We will bypass several scenes of the last days of Christ’s ministry, including
the Entry into Jerusalem, to concentrate on a few speci¿ c frescos. We go
directly to the violent and unforgettable Kiss of Judas (Capture of Christ) in
the middle of the bottom tier on the south wall. The violence is not so much
in the clash of bodies as in the bristling array of staves and torches that radiate
out of the mass of humanity converging on Jesus. Peter is shown severing
the ear of the servant of the high priest. In the Gospels of St. Matthew and St.
Mark, Judas offered to identify Jesus by kissing him. In Giotto’s painting, it
is Judas’s embrace that betrays Jesus. This moment is described differently
in the Gospel of St. Luke: When “Judas drew near unto Jesus to kiss him,...
Jesus said unto him ‘Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?’” This
is a signi¿ cant difference, given that no kiss follows. This version may have
appealed to Giotto, who realized that the moment before an action often is
more dramatic than the action itself.
Three more scenes following Christ’s arrest precede the Cruci¿ xion, a
work that is severely symmetrical and frontal in presentation. A group of
soldiers and tormentors are shown at right; another group shows the Virgin
Mary (fainting) along with John and some women at left. Mary Magdalen
kneels at the foot of the cross and wipes blood from Christ’s feet with her
hair. Although this is based on biblical text, Giotto alludes to the biblical
washing of Christ’s feet and her drying them with her hair that occurred
earlier. The cross bearing Christ divides the fresco. Ten small grieving angels
are disposed symmetrically above. This symmetry, and the fact that Christ
appears lifeless on the cross, makes this scene more symbolic than narrative.
Emotions are expressed but with remarkable restraint. Only the centurion
Longinus, who lanced Christ’s side, looks up at Christ, because he has been
converted. No other eyes are on Christ.
This scene contrasts greatly with the Lamentation. Now, all eyes are on the
dead body laid out in the foreground, and Giotto presents the human tragedy
of death and of the bereft. It is Christ who is dead, but it is also everyman,
and it is, likewise, everyman who remains behind. In the foreground, the
body is protected from a closer gaze by two massive, anonymous blocks of