View of the Cappella di San Giacomo

religious

The first document relating to Altichiero's frescoes in the Santo in Padua is dated 12 February 1372, when the Venetian sculptor and architect Andriolo de' Santi was contracted to build the chapel of San Giacomo (now San Felice). The blind arcade of the south wall echoes the five Gothic arches through which the chapel is entered: the three central bays of this south wall are painted with a continuous scene of the Crucifixion. The arch to each side contains a marble tomb: that on the left has a Piet painted above it and that on the right a Risen Christ with Two Angels.

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About the Artist

Altichiero Da Zevio

1330 – 1390

Italian painter. He probably came from Zevio near Verona and is sometimes considered to be the founder of the Veronese School, although the only surviving example of his work in that town is a fresco in Sta Anastasia. Most of his surviving work is in Padua, where he had a hand in fresco cycles in the Basilica of St Anthony (between 1372 and 1379) and in the Oratory of St George (between 1377 and 1384), in the latter of which he collaborated with an artist called Avanzo, who is otherwise unknown and whose contribution to the work is uncertain. Altichiero's gravity and the solidity and voluminousness of his figures clearly reveal his debt to Giotto 's frescos in the Arena Chapel of Padua. But his pageant-like scenes with their elaborate architectural views express the taste of the late 14th century for Gothic intricacy, while his naturalism in the study of plants and animals formed the point of departure for a new style which is reflected in Pisanello.

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