Art: Frescoes of the Padua Cathedral Baptistery

I don’t know why I’ve never heard of Giusto de' Menabuoi.  He is an early Italian Renaissance painter (1320-1391) known for his frescoes in the Baptistery at the Cathedral of Padua, otherwise known as the Duomo di Padova.  You probably know of the early Renaissance painters Giotto and Cimabue, and of course people know of the great ones from the later part of the Renaissance.  But take a look at some of these frescoes and tell me if you think as I do that de' Menabuoi belongs in that company.

Here’s a total view where you can absorb the entire baptistery as a whole.

But you really have to take in each panel on its own.  For instance, here’s the crucifixion.

And here is the wedding at Cana.

Now if you go to The Web Gallery of Art, you can scroll and zoom in each fresco.  

Now if you want a thrill and have a close up of some of the most divine art you will ever see, Aleteia, the Catholic web magazine, has used one of those copter crafts with a camera to fly close up through the Baptistery and see de' Menabuoi’s gorgeous frescoes.  Go here.   Make sure you watch all the videos and flip through all the images.

This was my comment there in the comments box: “Oh wow!  That was breath taking.  Beauty is an understatement.  I would say it's Divine!  Divine with a capital "D."  How come I never knew about this?”

Truly Divine!  I’ll even double this as a Faith Filled Friday post.