1304-06 Fresco, 200 x 185 cm Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua A great number of slaughtered children lie on the ground. A soldier stands over the corpses and, at the command of King Herod (who appears in the painting himself), snatches a baby boy from his mother. The women scream, weep and try to protect their children. The men on the other side turn away, crushed and ashamed. Artist: GIOTTO di Bondone Painting Title: No. 21 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 5. Massacre of the Innocents , 1301-1350 Painting Style: Italian
“They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head.” (Matthew 27:28-30)
Giotto, Mocking of Christ Italian, 1300-1305 Padua, Arena Chapel
But the Black man is never shown in his true and correct historical role. That of civilizer and teacher of the Albino.
Originally they were as described by Tacitus: Quote - "For my own part, I agree with those who think that the tribes of Germany are free from all taint of intermarriages with foreign nations, and that they appear as a distinct, unmixed race, like none but themselves. Hence, too, the same physical peculiarities throughout so vast a population. All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion. They are less able to bear laborious work. Heat and thirst they cannot in the least endure; to cold and hunger their climate and their soil inure them.
But now see how well they work under the tutelage of these Black foremen.
Predella for Griffoni Chapel
Ercole's first mature works are his contributions to the Griffoni Chapel for the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna: a predella depicting the Miracles of St Vincent Ferrer (c.1473) (now in the Pinacoteca of the Vatican), and lateral pilasters for the altarpiece commissioned from del Cossa.
I don't know why the Albinos try to hide art like this (this Getty image with the Black men is the only one you'll ever see). They should be proud of how well they have learned.
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