File:Giotto - Scrovegni - -20- - Flight into Egypt.jpg

(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

No. 20 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 4. Flight into Egypt 1304-06 Fresco, 200 x 185 cm Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

The Flight into Egypt, one of the most famous of the Arena Chapel frescoes, is set in a rocky landscape like that in the Stigmatization of St Francis at Assisi, though it is softer in appearance. Mary and her child form an isolated group in the centre of the scene, their solemnity enhanced by the rich, beautifully rendered folds of her cloak. Her profile is much more convincing than any of those in the frescoes at Assisi, a sign that once the artist had freed himself from the medieval prejudice against the profile he lost no time in mastering it. We can only imagine the startling effect this Virgin in full profile must have had on Giotto's contemporaries, accustomed as they were to the pictorial conventions still respected by other painters.

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Author: GIOTTO di Bondone Title: No. 20 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 4. Flight into Egypt Time-line: 1301-1350 School: Italian Form: painting