The Human Drama in Renaissance Art

Giotto, Betrayal of Christ (Kiss of Judas), 1305

I was raised in a Protestant church, so I was used to church interiors that were largely unadorned. Basically there was a cross with no Christ on it, maybe some simple stained glass, and that was it. Logos, or the Word, was everything. As John I tells us: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The charisma or the genius of the preacher becomes key, and the sermon reigns. From Jonathan Edwards going on about "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to Joel Osteen preaching The Prosperity Gospel, the minister seeks to move the people. Of course the best way to aurally move people is through music. Bach himself was a committed Christian and he made much of the best music of the last several hundred years. It hardly needs saying that the music of the black church in America is the source of the most thrilling and inspirational music going. There's no rock and roll or soul music without it. Sam Cooke started in the church, like multitudes of others. And like he sang, "Don't Fight the Feeling." Music is also key to the giant white mega-churches, with full rock bands performing in arena sized rooms.

In the Catholic basilicas and important gathering places of the Italian Renaissance, it was visuals that did the heavy lifting. And the great painters of the Biblical scenes were giants of Western art, creating on a level equal to Bach. Michelangelo, Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto: all felt the depiction of the drama of the great Biblical stories was worthy of the highest visual representation. Above all, this drama is human drama, even when angels and deities are present. There's enough happening in the Bible, both "Old" and New Testaments, to fuel a thousand Netflix series. The people back then didn't want for entertainment, especially when the dramatic scenes came with the extra juice of the souls of the viewers being at stake! 

For "non-believers" such as as me -- and I place the word in scare quotes, because in some ways I do "believe," but in ways that have nothing to do with heaven and hell and salvation and damnation -- to tour the great basilicas and chapels of Italy means to engage with each work on purely human terms. This means that for someone like me the stories being depicted don't prove the truth of Christian dogma. But they do still instruct on an existential level of what it means to be alive, including on levels that may exist beyond the physical. In my last post I spoke about the existential implications of the Annunciation and Virgin Birth, how it encapsulates the incomprehensibility of life. Here, I'll touch on one of my other favorites. 

The Scrovegni Chapel in Padova is famous for the frescoes of Giotto, which cover the walls with the signal events of the life of Jesus. Perhaps the most celebrated depiction is that of Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss. This episode works on so many levels. At the most cosmic level the kiss suggests the intimacy of good and evil, and the co-dependent relationship of opposing forces. This idea is more common in Eastern religions, with the yin yang symbol perhaps being the most prominent. The light is in the dark, the dark is in the light. Good is within evil, evil within good. Too often, Judas is simply viewed as the Bad Guy, but really, the the despicable act is essential to the story, or in Christian terms, essential to the salvation of the world, since the crucifixion is the necessary condition for Jesus to become the ultimate sacrifice, cleansing the sins of the world. In fact, in what I think may be the next panel, Giotto illustrates Christ's utter equanimity when the soldiers come to arrest him, having been identified by Judas. Of course, the cosmic vindication is actually unknown to Judas, whose motivations were venal, the desire for 30 pieces of silver. With this, the viewer is warned against the dangers of greed. Ultimately, though, the most human element is found in the act of betrayal. There is no greater pain in life than to be betrayed by someone you love. Time and again, the viewer can identify with Christ. Surrounded by the great paintings found in every basilica, the Christian church goer could feel themselves as part of a great drama, at once human and beyond human understanding.