Giotto di Bondone Joachim Takes Refuge in the Wilderness c. 1303-1305 Fresco, c. 185 x 200 cm Padua, Arena Chapel 💒 (Capella degli Scrovegni all’Arena) ——————————- #1transcribedtextbydinescu #masterpiecesofwesternartandarchitecturegothic #masterpiecesofwesternartfrance30 —————————— GIOTTO DI BONDONE 1266 (?)-1337 ——————— This fresco might perhaps more accurately be called “Joachim Downcast”. Joachim, the future father of Mary, has been to the Temple, where his sacrifice was refused. Bitter and ashamed (owing to the disgrace of being child-less), he returns not to his home, but to the solitude of his flocks. He approaches slowly, sunk deep in thought; he sees neither the dog who greets him joyfully nor the shepherds before him, whose sympathy for him is plain to see. The rocks behind provide an almost architectural backdrop which concludes the group and subtly paraphrases the composition. An impression of three-dimensional space is created by the depth and rounding of the figures and the staggered organization of the three men. Indeed, such is his sense of spatial depth that Giotto even treats Joachim’s nimbus in three-dimensional terms. Source: @Masterpieces of Western Art and Architecture