114 GIOTTO AND HIS WORKS IN PADUA

is not mentioned in Ruskin’s works. Lord Lindsay’s description of it is as follows:-

“A very remarkable fresco. The general outline is that of the traditional Byzantine composition. Our Saviour, a majestic figure, seated within the vesica piscis (the sky above him filled with a countless host of angels, holding the banner of the cross, the column, etc., others at his feet blowing the trumpet, and the Apostles ranged by six and six to his right and left), extends his open palm towards the elect, the back of his hand towards the reprobate; the former are arranged in companies, each escorted by an angel, kings, queens, monks, seculars, etc.; some of their heads are beautiful. Lowest of all, to the left of the fresco, the graves discharge the ‘dead in Christ,’ the souls, as usual, represented as children, but (unintentionally of course) with full-grown heads. The Inferno occupies the whole right side of the composition. It is connected with the earth by a bridge or natural arch, out of which issue the spirits of the condemned. Satan sits in the midst munching sinners, and around him the retributive punishments of the condemned, and, in some instances, the offences which provoked them, are represented with the most daring freedom. Between the Inferno and the elect, directly beneath our Saviour, the cross is supported in the air by two angels, who hold up the transverse arm, while the lower end is sustained by a small figure, of the size of a child,¹ who walks with it downwards from the mountain which forms the boundary of hell. Lower down, and to the left, a kneeling figure, probably Enrico Scrovegno, accompanied by a monk, holds up the model of the chapel towards three saints, of whom the central one seems to be addressing him. This group is very beautiful.”-Christian -Christian Art, vol. ii. pp. 195, 196.

The group mentioned by Lord Lindsay is shown in the woodcut by G. J. Sershall, on the title-page to the Arundel Society’s set of woodcuts (above, p. 5).

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THE VIRTUES AND VICES

These are ranged on either side of the chapel, each virtue facing its opponent vice. (See the plan of the chapel at p. 42.) Thus:-

aPrudence (115)facesnFolly (122).

bFortitude (115) ”mInconstancy (122).

cTemperance (115) ”lWrath (122).

dJustice (116) ”kInjustice (121).

eFaith (117) ”jInfidelity (120).

fCharity (118) ”iEnvy (120).

gHope (118) ”hDespair (119).

The following pages deal first with all the virtues, and then with the vices. The bracketed numbers in the list above give, however, the pages at which each is described, so that the reader or visitor to the chapel can, if he choose, take each virtue and vice alternately.

¹ [Only part of its face and the lower part of its legs, appearing from behind and below the cross, are seen in the fresco, and these are scarcely visible in the reduced size of the reproduction.-ED. 1899.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]