In Thursday’s class we discussed an extensive collection of Giotto’s work. We noticed that his paintings incorporated both fresco style and paint done a secco, which he did to bring greater pigmentation to the a secco colors. While I am sure all the works looked quite vivid when they were first done, the secco paint (often the strong blue) has chipped off with time. The blue was used in almost every one of these paintings to make up the entire background of the work. His backgrounds were simple and allowed the viewer to focus exclusively on the people, plants, and buildings in the foreground of the scene. Giotto also controls the gaze of the viewer by placing groups of figures or elements of nature that draw the eye to the focus of the scene. This is done expertly in his depiction of the Lamentation, where the composition of figures is quite lopsided and makes the viewer feel like they are falling into the grief at the bottom of the painting, where we see the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and others cradling Christ’s dead body. The emotion in this work is powerfully portrayed—we see that Mary’s face has changed from earlier scenes as it is so contorted by her grief and that you can still feel the deep pain of the mourners whose backs are facing the viewers. The slumped shoulders and bowed heads are such a clear indication of grief and pain in body language that those figures are just as moving as Mary’s face, which is remarkable.