Saturday 23 February 2008

ART SUNDAY - ULTRAMARINE 1


“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” - Diogenes Laertius

No single artist, no single painting, no analysis of style, genre or composition today for Art Sunday. Rather I’d like to focus on the resplendent blue that you see adorning the ceiling of this room, a view of the interior of the Capella degli Scrovegni, looking towards the apse, painted in fresco by Giotto, between 1304-1306 AD. It is one of the most glorious sights that you can see in Padua, Italy. Giotto, like many of his contemporary artists had been commissioned to adorn this chapel and as was custom, allowance had been made for the materials he was to use. Ultramarine blue is what gives the Scrovegni Chapel ceiling its gem-like clarity and this was the most expensive and opulent of pigments that an artist could use.

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