Giotto's "Lamentation", In-Class Writing

Giotto, Lamentation, Fresco in Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, 1304

A dark, brooding sky. A barren land, rocky, with little apparent plant life. A man is fallen to the ground, clad only in a cloth around his waist. He is wounded, his feet and hands bleeding. People surround him, tending to him, calming him, reassuring him, easing him. One woman tends to his feet, holding them. Another two women hold one wrist each. A fourth woman holds this man's shoulders up off of the ground, and a fifth woman keeps his head upright. His eyes are closed. Is he dead? There is little sign of life in him other than the attention he receives from these people. Two men stand back observing, discussing, as three other women react with anguish and pain. A crowd is gathering in the distance. Obviously this man is of some importance to the people who are trying so hard to make him comfortable. Their attention to him makes one wonder if they are doing it out of concern for him or out of concern for how they themselves will exist without him. Floating above, in various states of lamentation and observation are ten angels, their wings keeping them aloft. Some weep, some stare. All watch and wait. But one pressing question...why do only some who attend to this man's pain and suffering have halos? Who is determining which individual gets a halo? Is it the artist, Giotto, or is he working from the ideas of another? Is he depicting, or interpreting?