Padova: MRA-ITA-Pad003

Type Sample Item

Sample ID: MRA-ITA-Pad003

Sample Material Type: Mural painting

Sample Sub-type: powder

Weight

weight value (g): 1.6

Notes: sample weight + glass holder

Geographic Location

Country: Italy

Place: Padova

Site/monument: Italy (ITA)
Padova
Cappella degli Scrovegni

Historical note about the site/monument: The Chapel of the Scrovegni was commissioned in the early 1300s by Enrico Scrovegni. Its modest size and paucity of external ornament conceal an interior with priceless treasures: frescoes by Giotto di Bondone. The artist along with a team of collaborators was contracted soon after construction of the church commenced. He and his team worked for 2 years (from 1303-1305) to completely cover the chapel’s interior with fresco. The cycles include vivid depictions of events in the lives of the Holy Family and scenes from the New Testament, as well as grisaille representations of the Vices and Virtues. The frescoes are organized into four levels, and their layout was designed to suit the asymmetrical structure of the chapel. The chapel came into the hands of the City of Padua in the late 19^th century, and restoration interventions were periodically undertaken from that point until the present. Since the 1970s, a program of preventative conservation has been implemented to protect the frescoes.

Further reading:
Cesareo, R., Castellano, A., Buccolieri, G., Quarta, S., Marabelli, M., Santopadre, P., Leole, M., Brunetti, A. (2004). Portable equipment for energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of Giotto’s frescoes in the Chapel of the Scrovegni. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 213, 703-706.

Beck, E. M. (2004). Justice and Music in Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel Frescoes. Music in Art, 38-51.

Bellinati, C. (2003). Giotto. Iconographic atlas of the Scrovegni chapel (1300-1305). Grafiche Vianello srl.