Raising of Lazarus

Raising of Lazarus is a painting that depicts the biblical narration of the raising of Lazarus. Although the main feature of this painting follows the Byzantine iconography traditions, Giotto tends to concentrate on bringing out the dramatic nature of the happenings.

A hand raised against blue sky addresses a body still tightly bound in white. Between them, people turn, bend and reach; in the foreground, two small figures handle the stone that closed the grave. Giotto makes the extraordinary event depend on things that are easy to recognise: the weight of a slab, the restriction of winding cloth, the movement of someone drawing a garment across the nose. The miracle enters a world of bodily effort and bodily vulnerability.

The painting is a fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel, also called the Arena Chapel, in Padua. Padova Musei records approximate dimensions of 203 × 217 centimetres and places it in the middle register of the left wall, third compartment from the right in the museum's orientation. This is the north wall. The familiar date 1303–05 belongs to the official chronology of Giotto's chapel cycle; it does not identify a separately documented year for the execution of this individual scene. ^[1]

The scene displayed here was just one of a large number of frecoes produced by the artist for the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy in the very early 14th century. One section of the project would concentrate on the life of Christ, with around two dozen artworks capturing various episodes from the Bible. He would do similar with Mary too, before finishing off the interior with several more designs to fit the unique architecture. The cycle itself is regarded as his finest achievement, and within that, The Raising of Lazarus is considered one of the specific highlights. Certain stylistic touches run throughout the entire series and despite employing a large number of assistants for many of the tasks in this considerable commission, Giotto himself was still able to keep a clear style which persisted throughout the cycle of frescoes. The story of Lazarus provided an opportunity for him to display a dramatic moment from the Bible, where one of Jesus's followers is resurrected from the dead. The passage itself tells us of the importance of faith in God, and the rewards that this can bring for those who commit themselves to his word.

The chapel's narrative is more varied than a matching pair of twenty-four scenes for Mary and Christ would suggest. Joachim and Anna's story, Mary's life, Christ's ministry and Passion, the architectural decorations, the Virtues and Vices and the Last Judgement form interlocking sequences. Lazarus belongs to the short passage through Christ's public ministry before the journey towards his death. Faith is one of the Gospel's central concerns, though its account of grief and divine action is richer than a promise that sufficiently strong belief will always bring a particular earthly reward. ^{[1] [2]}

Giotto brought about changes within Italian art, starring as he did within the Proto-Renaissance. Many traditional approaches to art found within the medieval period would be moved on from, with this artist being at the forefront of the transition. His perspectives were not so flat, and his colours far brighter. The faces of his portraits would carry more emotion and his figures also more closely matched what we would see in real life. He also made use of stunning gold paint but this was not prevalent within the Scrovegni Chapel, where tones of blue dominated throughout both his series on Mary and Christ. Some of the themes covered within this cycle of frescoes would then be re-visited later on in his career, allowing us to see how he would tweak his ideas over time. Many of these follow-up pieces made use of relatively similar compositions, suggesting that he was satisfied with the way in which the chapel interior was decorated in the early 14th century. It also allowed him new commissions, with news of this display spreading across Italy.

Such broad contrasts between medieval and Renaissance painting become clearer when tested against this particular wall. Lazarus occupies a narrow, almost columnar space; Christ stands on a ledge; the central crowd overlaps in several ranks. These are carefully arranged degrees of depth rather than a demonstration of later mathematical perspective. Their impact comes from making a hand pass before a chest, a head rise behind another head, and a back bend towards us.

Present colour also needs to be read as a surviving surface. In the detail, Christ's blue garment and the lower part of the ochre-cloaked figure show conspicuous interruptions. Different reproductions alter the balance of blues, pinks and warm rock colours. Neither the photograph's brightness nor its muted passages establish a universal comparison with earlier painting. The chapel retains gold-coloured haloes, clearly visible here; gold cannot simply be excluded from its visual language. The municipality's conservation account describes a general campaign in 2001–02 followed by continuing monitoring and maintenance. It gives a history of care for the whole cycle, rather than a pigment analysis of every passage of this fresco. ^[3]

Likewise, the recurrence of a composition elsewhere does not reveal Giotto's satisfaction or private intentions. A workshop could adapt a successful arrangement to a different wall, patron or devotional setting. The relationship between Padua and the Assisi version discussed below is useful precisely because it involves changes as well as resemblance.

It would become fairly common later in the Renaissance to produce series of works related to the life of Christ. Raising of Lazarus would appear regularly within these bodies of work, and has become a well known element of Christian art. Typically, artists will be attracted to any themes that offer emotion, where they can really create an impact within the painting or sculpture, and the Bible actually hosts a large number of passages that could be used in this way. Indeed, the likes of Giotto would already have come across examples of where artists from previous centuries had covered Christian content, and would then take elements of those depictions and add some of their own innovations on top. This passage would then continue onwards for centuries to come, though in recent years there has been a reduced impact of religion within western art, in part because of how society has become interested in other interests. Despite that, many in the present day still love to refer back to the great Renaissance paintings, such as Raising of Lazarus by Giotto di Bondone from 1303-1305.

Table of Contents

• Description

• The Story of the Raising of Lazarus

• Bible Verse

• Meaning

• Where can Giotto's Painting be Found Today?

• How Many Times did Giotto Paint The Raising of Lazarus?

• Which other Artists covered this Theme?

• The History of the Scrovegni Chapel

• Related Artworks found alongside the Painting

• Large Image of Giotto's Raising of Lazarus

Description

With precision, he is able to bring out the shocked admiration of those present, their amazement, annoyance and panic with which they observed the miracle. The artist is able to bring out dramatic scenes by placing Jesus and Lazarus at the opposite ends of the painting, with Jesus radiating divine power while Lazarus appears in a grey doll from the world of the dead. The artist also captures movements and faces made by a boy and an old man standing between Jesus and Lazarus. Each of the attributes captured ensure that it is clear that not only are the two opposite each other physically but also in terms of their feelings. The young boy is dressed in pale green clothes and gazes directly into the face of Lazarus, with a face conveying great amazement while his hand is stretched to Jesus as if locating the direction in which a life-giving force came from.

Looking closely, the figure in pale green is less securely a boy than the description might imply. A youthful face and smooth cheeks suggest youth, but costume and scale do not establish an age. The right arm reaches sideways towards Christ while the other hand rises near the chin. His body therefore carries two directions at once: his face attends to Lazarus, while the extended arm draws the viewer back across the interval to Christ. The gesture is intelligible even without assigning a precise name or a single emotion to its owner.

Christ's own movement is economical. His right forearm rises from the red mantle, and his hand is held upright rather than stretched all the way to Lazarus. His face turns towards the tomb. The broad area of blue surrounding this hand makes it unusually legible, while the larger cluster of heads on the right gives the action something to address. The painting does not need a visible beam or a line joining the two bodies. Separation gives the gesture its force.

On the other hand, the old man dressed in a yellow cloak and standing next to Lazarus, is portrayed abruptly in profile, staring at Jesus with an utmost inquisitive look. However, his hands are untying the burial veil of Lazarus.On the right side of this painting are two men who are standing behind the risen, covering their faces as if keeping off the stench of the body that began to decay. Before them, are two young men laying the ground stone slab that covered the entrance to the cave-tomb. In the forefront, Mary and Martha are kneeling while stretched out to Jesus. Their figures represent the prehistory of the miracle and the composition scheme and the closure link that is made between Jesus and their brother-Lazarus. Moreover, their kneeling act embodies and communicates their acceptance of Jesus as the saviour and son of God.

The ochre-cloaked figure beside Lazarus brings another kind of attention: his face turns back towards Christ while his hands attend to the burial cloth. His divided action connects hearing with practical assistance. Lazarus's face, by comparison, is pale and tightly enclosed. The narrow openings of the eyes and mouth contrast with the fully active faces nearby. The oblique bands that bind his torso keep his arms close; the long, wrapped body is an obstacle to movement even as the narrative announces restored life.

At the right, cloth covers the lower faces of two witnesses. One folds a pink mantle across the nose; farther back, a blue cloth interrupts another face. The covered noses translate the Gospel's reference to decay into visible behaviour. They are also a reminder that a halo is insufficient to settle a name. The Padua record calls the nose-covering witness a disciple; Tomoyuki Masuda reads the pair as women and records conflicting identifications of several apostles. These disagreements leave the precise cast open. ^{[1] [23]}

The complete Raising of Lazarus in the larger legacy reproduction.

The stone carriers add a striking change of level. The nearer figure faces away from us, bending so deeply that the back becomes the main visible form. A second figure stands beyond the opposite end of the sloping slab, with red clothing and legs appearing at the right edge. Their small size has encouraged a reading of them as children; that remains an interpretation of the painted proportions. The substantial stone stretches diagonally between them, and the bent carrier's hands make its weight imaginable. The scene includes labour that the raised hand alone could easily have eclipsed.

Through their eyes and stance, Mary and Martha express a wide array of emotions. On their faces, for instance, there is an indication of intense grief as well as concern. These are dotted with the glow of amazing gratitude; like that of a mother who believed her child was in danger only to realize that the child is secure and protected. Behind Jesus stands the apostles, with the foreground featuring the figures of Peter and John shocked at the sight of the resurrected Lazarus. All the characters in this painting are portrayed as heroes in the raising of Lazarus. In fact, the coming together brings out an emotional richness unknown before in the visual arts. It also portrays vivid tension enhanced by colours and forms. Through this painting, the artist was able to express the reaction of people when supreme beings reveal their powers to them.

The gestures invite emotional readings, but annoyance, panic and gratitude cannot all be established as facts about particular minds. Some faces are intent, others partially obscured; an open palm can carry several meanings. The two sisters are especially compressed. The pale foreground mantle spreads towards the lower edge, while the second body lies partly behind it in red. Their lowered position contrasts with Christ's upright stance, and their heads turn upwards to him. This gives the encounter urgency without telling us the precise balance of reproach, petition, grief and hope.

Michael Viktor Schwarz's account of Giotto's narrative art helps explain this range. In his discussion of emotional energy, he includes the relatives' astonishment at Lazarus alongside more overt grief elsewhere in the chapel, then stresses small inflections, ambiguity and the contribution made by the spectator. That is a more useful framework than a claim that emotional richness was previously unknown in art. Here the spectator moves from one form of response to another: the central figure's arrested attention, the helpers' absorbed movements, the sisters' appeal and the defensive folds around the noses. ^[24]

The landscape holds these movements together. A pale ridge rises behind the crowd towards the upper right, where trees stand against the blue. Its slope partly encloses the darker tomb area and leaves Christ's head and hand against open sky. The foreground ledge sets the sisters below his feet, allowing their long bodies to occupy substantial space without masking the action above. Rock, cloth and bodies organise a scene whose emotional variety never dissolves into a shapeless crowd.

Several moments within one scene

Masuda proposes four stages within the fresco: the sisters' approach, the objection to opening the tomb, removal of its stone, and Lazarus's emergence and unbinding. Comparison with Byzantine examples, including Asinou in Cyprus, helps explain how one Christ addresses successive actions. He also proposes that the small carriers translate an earlier scale convention into apparent childhood. These remain hypotheses: neither the exact model nor Giotto's supposed misunderstanding is demonstrated. His later Prilep example cannot prove a source available before Padua. ^[23]

Masuda repeatedly calls Lazarus's sister Mary Magdalene. This reflects the medieval Western conflation of Magdalene with Mary of Bethany; John 11 itself names Mary of Bethany. That distinction matters for both the Gospel and the Assisi comparison. ^{[2] [23]}

The Story of the Raising of Lazarus

The story, featured in the Gospel of John, explains the death of Lazarus and the aftermath of this tragedy, before later Christ returns to the tomb of Lazarus and helps to resurrect him. Our subsequent knowledge about this event places us in Bethany, which is today a town in the West Bank. It would be four days in which Lazarus lied in his tomb before the resurrection occurred, and it would become known as one of Christ's many miracles which litter the Old and New Testament. Eleazer (Lazarus) was a follower of Jesus and lived in Bethany, near Jerusalem. He is also brother to Mary and Martha who also appear within the Bible. He becomes ill and his sisters contact Jesus in fear for their brother's condition. He tells them not to worry, and eventually visits once Lazarus has already passed away. Martha and Mary doubt Jesus now, but eventually re-affirm their commitment to his word, and shortly afterwards Christ rewards them by resurrecting their brother, Lazarus.

The event belongs to the New Testament. The Old Testament contains other stories of the dead being restored to life, but Jesus's earthly ministry and this Bethany episode occur in the Gospels. This Lazarus is also distinct from the poor Lazarus in the parable of the rich man in Luke 16:19–31. Shared names do not make their stories interchangeable. ^[2]

John's sequence is particularly important for understanding Giotto's compression. Martha first goes out while Mary remains at home; Mary comes later and falls at Jesus's feet. At the tomb, Martha raises the question of the body's condition. Removing the stone precedes the call to Lazarus, and the command to release the burial cloth follows his emergence. The painted gestures gather these successive encounters into one field. They need not all represent a single instant witnessed from one fixed place. ^[2]

John's continuation gives the scene a darker horizon. Some witnesses believe, while the report of the miracle leads to a council and a decision against Jesus. The gift of life becomes part of the narrative movement towards his death. That tension helps explain why Lazarus belongs so powerfully beside the approach to Jerusalem: the joy of restoration does not stop the story or remove the danger around Christ. These are developments within John's account, rather than a reason to assign the fresco's every face to one side of the coming conflict. ^[2]

Bible Verse

The story itself is mentioned in the Gospel of John (John 11:1–44), within the New Testament. The overall passage tells us first about the death of Lazarus, and then the comforting of his grieving sisters by Christ. The final section, detailed below, then explains the event in which Jesus visits the tomb and speaks to God for assistance. Shortly afterwards, Lazarus then appears from his grave, alive once more.

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

The words above describe John 11:38–44. In the painting, the stone, grave cloths and covered faces make its material circumstances visible. The gestures of Christ and the sisters also reach back to earlier verses. Reading only the final command would leave much of the picture unexplained. ^[2]

Meaning

Christ displays the power of God to his believers, as promised. He urges them to follow him and the word of God, and in return, Lazarus is resurrected. There are several meanings to be found within this story, but perhaps the strongest is in teaching the importance of faith and belief, and what can be experienced for those who hold these beliefs the most strongly. The story also provides a further examples of Christ's ability to deliver miracles, which helps to build his status within the overall narrative. He speaks directly to God, and shows confidence that he will be heard. This miracle shows evidence of his own powers, and of the influence of God in allowing Lazarus to return to life in return for the commitment of those around Christ. To achieve the impossible underlines how normal people cannot understand the power of divine figures but can bring it to their benefit if they follow the right path. This story therefore helps to strengthen their resolve and commitment to God, helping them to avoid veering down the wrong path when their faith might be challenged or weakened.

This is a Christian interpretation of a Gospel narrative, rather than an empirical demonstration or a guaranteed transaction between faith and recovery. Within John, Jesus's love for the family is stated before the miracle, and his own tears enter the story. The raising has a public purpose in the narrative: it discloses who he is to those around him. Its significance therefore extends beyond the sisters receiving what they desire. ^[2]

The bindings make that significance unusually concrete. Lazarus returns to the gathering while he still bears the equipment of burial. Others must help restore his freedom of movement. Giotto gives visible space to both the command and the human assistance that follows it. The result is an image in which divine authority and ordinary care occupy the same ground.

Schwarz also places Lazarus between the childhood narratives and Passion, interpreting this short group of ministry scenes as a transition towards the work of salvation. He observes the particular suitability of Lazarus for a chapel with a funerary purpose: the restored body gives pictorial form to Christian hope in resurrection. This explains an affinity between subject and setting; it does not establish a surviving instruction from Enrico prescribing every detail. ^[24]

Where can Giotto's Painting be Found Today?

This depiction of The Raising of Lazarus can be found in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. It sits in the middle tier of the north wall. The item can be found in the same row of The Finding in the Temple (Jesus among the doctors), The Baptism of Jesus , The Wedding at Cana, Christ enters Jerusalem and Casting out the money changers. You may notice that some refer to the piece displayed on this page by the alternative name of The Resurrection of Lazarus, but essentially the two titles refer to the same passage of the Bible. Having been translated into so many languages, and discussed within different cultures over centuries, it is perhaps inevitable that different names for the same passages of scripture might appear. Those interested in seeing these paintings in person should head to the chapel, where the frescoes remain today in the Italian city of Padua. Tourists are welcome here, but efforts are made to avoid to many people entering this small building at any one time in order to preserve both the frescoes themselves, but also the architecture which is of considerable artistic value itself.

The approximate measurements and position given by the current Padua catalogue are useful anchors for a visit, but the fresco is best understood in relation to its neighbours. It follows the Wedding at Cana and precedes the Entry into Jerusalem in the narrative sequence. The succession shifts from a wedding feast, through an opened grave, towards Christ's entry into the city. The enclosed feast and open rocky setting offer different spatial shapes for miracles of transformation. ^[1]

Nadia Munari proposes a further, vertical reading: the Lazarus scene prefigures the Resurrection and Christ's encounter with Magdalene in the register below. The relation allows the eye to move between two tombs and two different meetings with Christ. It also distinguishes the narratives. Lazarus appears still enclosed in his wrappings, surrounded by people who must release him; the risen Christ encounters Magdalene in another story and another bodily condition. Munari relates such pairings to the multiple senses of medieval scriptural interpretation. Her reading is an argument about the ensemble, not a documented set of programme instructions. ^[25]

How Many Times did Giotto Paint The Raising of Lazarus?

We know of two depictions of the Raising of Lazarus by Giotto di Bondone. The first, as shown and discussed here, was produced for the interior of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua over the period of 1303-1305. The slightly lesser known version was added to the Magdalen Chapel, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi in the 1320s, up to two decades after his earlier version. It must be pointed out, however, that the attribution of the latter is still up for discussion, and some are not sure whether it was truly from the hand of Giotto himself. Indeed, many of the artworks in Assisi suffer a similar status, mainly due to the fact that a good number of different artists are known to have worked here during the 14th century and that some would mimic the style of Giotto for their own success. That said, these two versions are noticeably similar in style, with just an alteration in how the figures are composed and organised, but if it was not Giotto's work, then it was clearly someone copying his style. It is hard to imagine this particular debate every being entirely resolved now, with so many centuries having passed since then and most potential avenues of research already exhausted.

The Scrovegni Chapel looking towards the entrance wall in a 2017 photograph: the Last Judgement closes the interior, with narrative tiers at either side beneath the blue vault. Derbrauni. Image source. CC BY-SA 4.0. Proportionally reduced reproduction; original composition, colour and photographic lighting retained.

The Assisi comparison requires a more open chronology than a settled date in the 1320s. Schwarz argues for taking the Magdalene Chapel frescoes seriously as possible works around 1308, and discusses their connection with Bishop Teobaldo Pontano's burial chapel. That is his reconstruction, rather than a universally accepted dating or an attribution certificate. The statement that only a copyist could explain any resemblance would also be too narrow: related compositions can emerge through workshop practice, shared drawings, assistants and adaptation. Nor can the future scope of historical research be declared exhausted. ^[24]

In the Assisi image reproduced by Schwarz, the opposing groups are spread across a wider field. Christ and his companions stand at the left, the grave and helpers at the right; the kneeling women occupy the intervening foreground. The arrangement gives the encounter more lateral breadth than at Padua. Lazarus turns towards Christ, and the inscription extending from Christ's mouth gives his command a visible verbal presence. Schwarz treats these changes as changes of emphasis as well as composition. ^[24]

He argues that the kneeling Magdalene becomes a principal figure in the Assisi chapel's account of her life, drawing the event towards her intercession and grief. His discussion brings in the Meditationes vitae Christi and a medieval prayer that calls Lazarus her brother. That relationship belongs to the medieval conflation of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany. It is central to understanding how the chapel's subject could be framed, while remaining distinct from the identities explicitly supplied by John. The comparison enriches both paintings without proving a particular hand, a deliberate act of self-copying or a securely fixed interval between them. ^[24]

Which other Artists covered this Theme?

As with all of the major themes to be found within the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, many other artists have also taken The Raising or Resurrection of Lazarus into their own oeuvres. It would be impossible to mention all of them here, but some of the notable highlights over the past few centuries have included The Raising of Lazarus by Sebastiano del Piombo, another version by Duccio in around 1310–11, plus also versions from Caravaggio in circa 1609 and Rembrandt in 1630–1631. The majority of this body of work has appeared within Italy and Northern Europe, where many of the finest artists have remained, and also Christianity was a major influence within their respective societies. Each artist would have studied previous iterations from other major names in order to make use of certain iconography, before appending their own innovations on top. Thus, the likes of Giotto could influence how later artists covered the same subject through their own interpretations, with Giotto himself being noted for his originality in terms of colour, perspective and also the style of his figurative work.

A later example makes the subject's flexibility especially clear. The National Gallery dates Sebastiano del Piombo's Raising of Lazarus, incorporating designs by Michelangelo, to 1517–19. Its account connects the basic arrangement with Giotto's Padua composition. In Sebastiano's much larger, upright altarpiece, Lazarus sits at the edge of the tomb and a kneeling helper works at his wrappings. Christ divides his gestures between heaven and the man he summons, while a dense crowd enlarges the miracle's public setting. The gallery also identifies three women covering their noses. ^[26]

The continuity is specific: command, bodily release and response to the grave's odour remain available narrative elements. Their redistribution changes the experience of the scene. Giotto's long pause between an upright Christ and the bound Lazarus gives the interval across the picture particular weight; Sebastiano develops a more populous arrangement for a tall church altarpiece. This comparison supports a history of the subject without requiring every later painter to have studied every earlier version.

The History of the Scrovegni Chapel

The chapel was designed as a private place of worship for the Scrovegni family, with a mansion built close by. Enrico Scrovegni , the patron of this project, called upon the services of Giotto to decorate the chapel's interior. The land was purchased in the very early 14th century and, incredibly, the architecture and paintings was completed by 1305. Finance was found in order to support Giotto with a team of assistants, and they would actually complete many elements of the paintings, under his close supervision. Over time the building would eventually be opened to the public and it remains a popular tourist attraction today. The site is recognised as a location of cultural significance and efforts have been made to preserve and protect the original frescoes, keeping them within their original locations. It is hard to imagine that any of those involved in the original project could have imagined that the chapel would have remained for so many centuries, but that is testament to the quality of the art within it, and the obvious need to protect this major achievement for generations to come. The chapel remains a popular destination for international tourists heading to or from Venice.

Family patronage did not make the chapel's early audience wholly private. Schwarz discusses the papal indulgence of 1 March 1304, which encouraged devotional visits on specified Marian feast days and during the following weeks. The building participated in Padua's religious life while remaining privately owned. The municipality's history distinguishes the dedication of 25 March 1303 from the consecration of 25 March 1305, and records the city's acquisition in 1880. These are different stages in the chapel's history, rather than a simple passage from an inaccessible family room to a modern attraction. ^{[24] [27]}

Related Artworks found alongside the Painting

The Wedding at Cana and Entry into Jerusalem are the immediate narrative companions to the Lazarus fresco. Seen with them, this image holds a particular place between Christ's public ministry and the approach to the Passion. The people around the tomb vary their responses within a strongly directed encounter; in the following entry, a city receives him. Giotto changes the shape of the crowd to suit each episode.

Looking down towards the Resurrection, the spectator can also test the vertical relationship proposed by Munari. Horizontal progression and vertical comparison coexist. One tells what happens next; the other asks how an earlier event can anticipate a later one. The chapel makes room for both kinds of attention. ^[25]

Large Image of Giotto's Raising of Lazarus

A larger view rewards a slow circuit from Christ's hand to Lazarus's face, then down to the stone carriers and back across the sisters. The fine folds matter as much as the expansive rock. Around the living bodies, cloth opens and falls; around Lazarus, it binds. The contrast gives the scene its most persistent tension. The man has been called back into company, yet the people beside him still have to help him emerge from the form in which he was buried.