Every so often we will take the time and opportunity to highlight books and artwork that are especially interesting to us and that we believe will be of great interest to our readers.
In this post, we will be highlighting a ground-breaking art history book entitled Giotto and the Arena Chapel: Art, Architecture and Experience by Laura Jacobus.
Giotto di Bondone (or more widely known as "Giotto") was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the late Middle Ages. He is best known for his exquisite fresco paintings that adorn the walls in the Arena Chapel in Padua and the walls in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contribute to the Italian Renaissance.
Giotto and the Arena Chapel: Art, Architecture and Experience is divided into two parts, the first presenting new evidence and reconstructions of the Arena Chapel's design and early history; the second offering new interpretations of Giotto's frescoes. (Publisher comments)
The author, Laura Jacobus, discusses a wide range of topics related to the Arena Chapel including the origin and history of the Chapel itself, the iconography of the interior design and a biography of its patron, Enrico Scrovegni. The book also discusses in great detail Giotto's frescoes, and the subjects and the iconography used throughout them. The author offers new perspectives and interpretations on many of these topics and uses all original sources, some of which are newly discovered, unpublished or previously published in inaccessible editions.
This book is a must-read for Giotto fans and all art-history buffs and can be purchases here.
