Barren Metal and the Fruitful Womb: The Program of Giotto's Arena Chapel in Padua

• Autores: Anne Derbes, Mark Sandona
• Localización: Art bulletin, ISSN 0004-3079, Vol. 80, Nº 2, 1998, págs. 274-291
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Enrico Scrovegni commissioned the Arena Chapel to expiate the sin of usury, through which the family had amassed a fortune. The program includes several features suggesting a preoccupation with ill-gotten gains. Central to the program’s meaning is the juxtaposition of the Pact of Judas with the Visitation. Fertility was understood throughout the Middle Ages as usury’s antithesis; usury was condemned because it forces barren metal to breed unnaturally. The Virgin’s fruitful womb was celebrated by Bonaventura, among others, as the antidote to avarice: the avaricious "bear no fruit." Mary’s fertility promises salvation for the Scrovegni family.