View of the Cappella di San Giacomo

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 Pietà painted above it and that on the right a Risen Christ with Two Angels. The spandrels at each end of the arcaded wall have an Annunciation, but all the other spandrels in the chapel are painted with roundels with half-length saints. On the west wall above the stalls is a fresco showing the donors Bonifacio Lupi di Soragno and his wife Caterina dei Franceschi presented by their patron saints to the Virgin and Child enthroned. The scenes painted above the stalls on the east wall and all the lunettes into the vault illustrate the Legend of St James, to whom the chapel was dedicated.

Throughout the cycle, figures are conceived on a monumental scale and endowed with a narrative force and gravity of expression akin to Giotto. The convincing integration of figures and setting is remarkable. The treatment of architecture and its use in organizing compositions and describing space show an accomplishment not seen in earlier Italian painting. Buildings not only place the drama and set the scale but suggest space in several remarkable ways. Altichiero’s naturalism is also apparent in portraiture: likenesses of contemporary figures including Petrarch, King Louis I of Hungary and the donors have been identified in the Council of King Ramiro, alluding to the cultural and political affiliations of the da Carrara, Lords of Padua.