Late Middle Ages · Europe · Culture

1310

Giotto paints the Scrovegni Chapel frescoes

1310

In Padua, the former shepherd Giotto di Bondone finished cycles of Joachim, Mary, and Christ on walls his patron had built to launder his father's usury. Figures stood on real ground, cast real shadows, felt real grief. Even the damned in his Last Judgment wore recognizable human expressions. Painting would not look the same again for a thousand years.