The History of the Arena Chapel
The history of the Arena Chapel is closely tied to the frescoes painted inside by Giotto. The chapel was commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni, the grandson of a wealthy moneylender, as a way to secure forgiveness for his family’s sins. In the Catholic Church, an indulgence was a form of spiritual pardon, often granted in exchange for acts of charity or religious devotion. Wealthy patrons sometimes funded churches or religious artworks in hopes of having their sins—or those of their ancestors—pardoned by the Church.
The Scrovegni family lived in Padua, Italy, in the 13th and 14th centuries. Their fortune came from usury, or lending money with interest, which was considered a mortal sin by the Catholic Church at the time. According to Church doctrine, those who profited from moneylending risked eternal punishment. Enrico Scrovegni likely commissioned the chapel to atone for his grandfather’s involvement in usury. Dante even mentions a member of the Scrovegni family in The Divine Comedy, placing him in hell among the usurers.
There is some debate about whether Giotto’s frescoes in Padua and Assisi were painted using buon fresco or fresco secco. Understanding the difference is important because most large-scale paintings from this period were executed directly onto plaster walls. The word fresco means "fresh" in Italian, and there are two types: buon fresco and fresco secco. In buon fresco ("true fresco"), pigments are mixed with water and painted onto damp plaster. As the plaster dries, the colors become part of the wall, creating a permanent stain that can penetrate up to half an inch. In fresco secco ("dry fresco"), paint is applied to dry plaster, which allows for more detail but is less durable over time.
It's my opinion that he probably used the buon fresco technique, however, I attended a talk at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. The speaker, sorry I can’t recall her name, stated that the Assisi frescoes were done in fresco secco and suggested the same may be true for those in Padua. However, some evidence suggests Giotto used buon fresco at least in part. In certain areas, outlines around figures indicate the use of giornata—sections of plaster applied and painted in a single day, which is typical of buon fresco technique.
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Giotto’s Arena Chapel and Dante’s Divine Comedy
Dante and Giotto lived in the same time period and were shaped by the same religious and political world. Some scholars suggest they may have known each other, or at least been aware of each other’s work, but there is no solid evidence to confirm a personal connection. Both Cimabue and Giotto are mentioned in Canto XI of the Purgatorio, Dante drops Giotto's name in suggesting the ethereality of worldly fame:
"Once Cimabue thought to hold the field
as painter; Giotto now is all the rage,
Dimming the luster of the other's fame."
Vasari, drawing on a description by Giovanni Boccaccio, a friend of Giotto's, says of him that "there was no uglier man in the city of Florence" and indicates that his children were also plain in appearance. There is a story that Dante visited Giotto while he was painting the Scrovegni Chapel and, seeing the artist's children underfoot asked how a man who painted such beautiful pictures could have such plain children. Giotto, who according to Vasari was always a wit, replied, "I make my pictures by day, and my babies by night."
What is clear is that both were influenced by long-standing Christian traditions and by changes in religious thought that took place in the centuries before them.
Dante wrote The Divine Comedy between 1308 and 1321 while in exile from Florence. The poem describes a journey through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, where Dante, guided first by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, learns about sin, redemption, and divine justice. His writing was deeply shaped by the politics of Florence, particularly the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Dante, a White Guelph, was exiled when the Black Guelphs took control, leading him to spend his final years as a political exile in various cities.
At the same time, Giotto was working on the frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua, commissioned by Enrico Scrovegni around 1303. The fresco cycle tells the story of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, ending with a large Last Judgment scene. This mirrors some of the themes found in The Divine Comedy, where Dante describes the punishments of sinners and the rewards of the righteous. Enrico Scrovegni’s father, Reginaldo, was placed in Inferno by Dante among the usurers, reflecting the Church’s view on lending money with interest.
Both Dante and Giotto were working in a period shaped by Scholasticism, a system of thought that tried to reconcile faith with reason. One of the key figures of this movement was Thomas Aquinas, who wrote about the structure of the universe, divine justice, and the relationship between human reason and God’s law. His ideas influenced both The Divine Comedy and the way Giotto arranged his frescoes, particularly in their sense of order and hierarchy.
Another major influence on both was St. Francis of Assisi, who preached about humility, the importance of nature, and a direct personal connection with God. Franciscan ideas led to a shift in religious art, with more emphasis on human emotion and naturalistic figures. Giotto’s frescoes in the Arena Chapel reflect this change, with expressive figures and a more natural sense of space. Dante’s writing also follows this, as he describes sinners and saints in personal, relatable terms rather than as distant figures.
Both Dante and Giotto were shaped by the same religious and cultural shifts, particularly the rise of Franciscan thought and the spread of Scholasticism. They were also working in a time when Italy’s cities were growing wealthier through trade, leading to tensions over economic practices like usury. Their works reflect these changes, each in their own medium—Dante through poetry, Giotto through painting.
Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy in the early 14th century, likely between 1308 and 1321, while he was living in exile from Florence. The poem is divided into three sections— Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—and follows a fictional version of Dante himself as he travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. It was written in vernacular Italian rather than Latin, which was the language typically used for scholarly and religious texts at the time.
Dante was born in Florence in 1265 and was involved in the city’s politics before being exiled in 1302. Florence was divided between two political factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Dante was part of the White Guelphs, who were opposed to the influence of the Pope in Florentine government. When the Black Guelphs took control of Florence, Dante was sentenced to exile, forcing him to live in various cities in northern Italy for the rest of his life. His exile and the political struggles of Florence shaped much of The Divine Comedy. Many of the people he places in Inferno were real figures from Florence, including political enemies and corrupt church officials.
Dante wrote The Divine Comedy without a formal patron, relying instead on support from noble families who gave him shelter during his exile. The poem was widely read after his death and played a role in shaping the Italian language. Before Dante, most literature was written in Latin, making it inaccessible to people who were not part of the educated elite. By writing in Tuscan Italian, Dante helped establish the vernacular as a literary language.
The world in The Divine Comedy is symbolic and structures Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in a detailed and hierarchical way. Inferno is a deep pit with descending circles of punishment, Purgatorio is a mountain that souls climb toward purification, and Paradiso is a series of celestial spheres. These settings were influenced by medieval Christian beliefs and earlier works, including Virgil’s Aeneid and theological writings about the afterlife.
When it was first written, The Divine Comedy gained attention among scholars, poets, and religious figures. Some supported Dante’s portrayal of morality and justice, while others criticized his placement of political and religious figures in Hell. Over time, the poem became a foundational text in Italian literature and influenced later writers and artists.
While there is no definitive proof that Giotto and Dante collaborated or had a personal relationship, the similarities between Giotto’s fresco cycle and Dante’s literary vision suggest that both were engaging with the same religious and artistic themes of their time. There is no direct historical evidence confirming that Giotto and Dante personally knew each other, but they lived during the same period and moved in similar circles. Dante was born in 1265 and was active as a poet and political figure in Florence, while Giotto was born around 1267 and was working in various cities in Italy. Both men were associated with the ruling elites and cultural life of Florence, and it is possible they met or were aware of each other's work.
Several scholars have explored connections between Giotto’s frescoes in the Arena Chapel and Dante’s Divine Comedy. One study suggests that Dante's descriptions of the Last Judgment and the afterlife share similarities with Giotto’s visual depictions in the chapel (Edson, 1989). The Last Judgment fresco on the chapel’s back wall includes figures that resemble Dante’s descriptions of the damned and saved, reinforcing common religious themes of the time.
Enrico Scrovegni, the patron of the chapel, is also directly linked to Dante’s work. In the Inferno, Dante places Enrico’s father, Reginaldo Scrovegni, among the usurers in the Seventh Circle of Hell. Enrico’s inclusion in Giotto’s Last Judgment fresco, kneeling before the chapel as an act of repentance, could be seen as a response to the family’s negative portrayal in Dante’s poem
Other scholars argue that both Dante and Giotto were influenced by similar theological and philosophical ideas rather than directly referencing each other’s work. Their representations of morality, divine justice, and human emotion reflect broader intellectual currents in early 14th-century Italy.
The Arena Chapel frescoes and The Divine Comedy share similar religious themes and use visual and literary symbols to communicate ideas about sin, redemption, and divine justice. Both works were created in early 14th-century Italy and reflect Christian theology, particularly ideas about salvation and punishment. Giotto painted the frescoes inside the Arena Chapel between 1303 and 1305, and Dante wrote The Divine Comedy between 1308 and 1321. Both artists were influenced by Scholasticism, a system of thought that sought to explain religious beliefs using reason, and Franciscan spirituality, which emphasized humility, personal faith, and the human experience of divine grace.
The fresco cycle inside the Arena Chapel tells the story of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, ending with a large Last Judgment scene on the back wall. The Divine Comedy follows Dante as he travels through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, encountering sinners, penitents, and the blessed. Both works structure their narratives hierarchically, with clear divisions between different levels of morality and justice. In the Arena Chapel, virtues and vices are arranged at the bottom of the fresco cycle, while biblical events unfold in registers above. Dante organizes Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in a structured way, with increasing levels of purification leading toward divine presence.
The use of buildings to tell a story and organize ideas was important in the medieval period and carried into the early Renaissance. This approach to structuring space and narrative can be seen later in the Renaissance, particularly in the Sistine Chapel, which follows organizational principles developed during the medieval period.
The Arena Chapel, also called the Scrovegni Chapel, is arranged into five sections. One entire wall is dedicated to the Last Judgment, placed in the most visually dominant position in the chapel. The other four sections focus on the life of Christ, reinforcing his central role in Christian belief.
Along the lowest section of the walls, a continuous band depicts personified virtues and vices, except at the entrance and below the Last Judgment. Above these, scenes from the life of Jesus appear, visually resting on the virtues and vices below them. This arrangement suggests a connection between Christ’s story and the moral principles represented beneath it.
Above these two bands, the uppermost section contains scenes from the lives of Christ’s ancestors, including the life of the Virgin Mary and Joachim. These form the uppermost layer of the chapel’s visual program, capping the narrative of Christ’s life and the moral lessons below it.
A way to think about this structure is like a sandwich: the virtues and vices on the bottom and the ancestors of Christ on the top act as the bread, while the life of Christ is in the center. This kind of structured organization reflects a broader medieval interest in categorization and hierarchy, influenced in part by Scholasticism, a method of learning associated with thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas.
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