Giotto painting lamentation

The emotions of the mourners are expressed largely through their hands and faces, especially their mouths which seem to tremble with grief. Their bowed heads and hunched bodies add to the overall impression of misery.

The human figures are given much greater three-dimensionality than normal, while Giotto also creates a convincing impression of space which lends an additional sense of reality to the picture.

Kiss of judas

These three factors - (1) the naturalness of Giotto's faces and expressions; (2) the sculptural nature of his figures; and (3) the "depth" he creates in his pictures - marked a revolutionary turning-point in painting, and signalled the demise of the old traditions of Byzantine art, with its flat one-dimensional imagery. This traditional style might have been ideal for mosaic art - see, for instance, the awesome Ravenna mosaics - but Europe was developing fast and its art needed to change, too.

As it was, Giotto's innova