Giuliano Pisani takes us into the heart of one of the greatest masterpieces of Western art, Giotto’s fresco cycle for the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.

There Giotto revolutionises the language of painting by means of a new realism, describing emotions and paying minute attention to details, to architectural design, and to new space depths in a triumph of colour and light. By focusing piece by piece on each and every scene, Giuliano Pisani unfolds for us a fascinating and complex tale of sacred history, providing a long-awaited coherent and organic reading of the fresco cycle.

The numerous symbols are clarified and the adviser who provided Giotto with the conceptual schema and the theological programme is identified in the Augustinian Hermit Friar Albert of Padua. It emerges that their collaboration is what gives life to Giotto’s masterpiece. Its wondrous treasure trove calls for us to meditate on our moral choices, and it invites us to take up our responsibility both as individuals and as a community, showing the way to goodness, justice, hope, and love.