Giotto, The Arena Chapel Frescoes: The Nativity

1305-1306
Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy

The arrangement of figures and objects treats the birth of Jesus as a sort of liturgical event. The mother and child are elevated on an altar-like rise above the other figures, further separated from the beasts by a manger, which thus functions like the screen in a church of Giotto's time. The lifting of the child relates to the Elevation, the lifting of the host in the Eucharistic liturgy.

Traditional details retained by the artist include St. Peter's resting his cheek on his left hand and the assistance of a midwife.

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Photographed at the chapel by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.