DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0062
36
GIOTTO
[1276-
present. In the next composition we have the Birth
of the Baptist. Elizabeth, whose reclining attitude
is admirably given, lies on the bed, attended by her
maidens, and in the next room Zacharias is seated
with crossed legs, writing the child's name upon the
tablet on his knees, and gazing at the laughing babe
held up before him by the women, who look eagerly at
the word which he has written. In the third scene,
Herod and his guests are seated at table under a
stately portico adorned with antique statues, watching
Salome, who with a lyre in her hand has been dancing
before them to the strains of violin music. But
suddenly she pauses in her dance, and the women
who have been watching her steps turn away in
horror at the sight of the Baptist’s head which a
soldier, wearing a Roman helmet, is in the act of
presenting to Herod. Through an open door
Salome appears again, kneeling before her mother
with the charger, and in the distance we see the
barred window of the tower where the Baptist has
been imprisoned. The central picture, with its classic
architecture and ornamental details, and the graceful
figures of Salome and the youth in his striped tunic
playing the violin, is full of charm.
On the opposite wall we have three subjects from
the life of St. John the Evangelist. First of all, the
aged Saint is seen slumbering on the rock of Patmos,
while the vision of the Son of Man appears in the
clouds, attended by an angel bearing a sickle, and
the woman with the mystic Child in the cradle.
This fresco is too badly damaged to give any idea
of Giotto’s powers, but happily a considerable portion
of the two others have escaped restoration, and are
GIOTTO
[1276-
present. In the next composition we have the Birth
of the Baptist. Elizabeth, whose reclining attitude
is admirably given, lies on the bed, attended by her
maidens, and in the next room Zacharias is seated
with crossed legs, writing the child's name upon the
tablet on his knees, and gazing at the laughing babe
held up before him by the women, who look eagerly at
the word which he has written. In the third scene,
Herod and his guests are seated at table under a
stately portico adorned with antique statues, watching
Salome, who with a lyre in her hand has been dancing
before them to the strains of violin music. But
suddenly she pauses in her dance, and the women
who have been watching her steps turn away in
horror at the sight of the Baptist’s head which a
soldier, wearing a Roman helmet, is in the act of
presenting to Herod. Through an open door
Salome appears again, kneeling before her mother
with the charger, and in the distance we see the
barred window of the tower where the Baptist has
been imprisoned. The central picture, with its classic
architecture and ornamental details, and the graceful
figures of Salome and the youth in his striped tunic
playing the violin, is full of charm.
On the opposite wall we have three subjects from
the life of St. John the Evangelist. First of all, the
aged Saint is seen slumbering on the rock of Patmos,
while the vision of the Son of Man appears in the
clouds, attended by an angel bearing a sickle, and
the woman with the mystic Child in the cradle.
This fresco is too badly damaged to give any idea
of Giotto’s powers, but happily a considerable portion
of the two others have escaped restoration, and are