Restorers claim to have found Giotto’s lost murals in an abandoned earthquake-damaged chapel Automatic translate

Restore artists working on frescoes in a forgotten chapel in Assisi believe they have stumbled upon evidence that stunning images found under layers of mud are the work of medieval artist Giotto.

Photo: Pietro Crocchioni / EPA

After two years of restoration work in the chapel of St. Nicholas (Chapel of St Nicholas), in its lower basilica, named after St. Francis, the artists came across initials that may belong to Giotto. The need for rebuilding the chapel was caused by the 1997 earthquake, which seriously damaged the basilica.

Experts believe that the frescoes in the chapel, which has been closed to the public and simply forgotten for many years, belong at best to the brush of Giotto’s followers who worked in the 14th century. However, the restorers themselves argue that the letters GB stand for Giotto di Bondone, i.e. - The full name of the artist.

Born in 1266, Giotto is considered the founder of Italian Renaissance art. He authored the painting of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua dating from 1305, and his painting Ognissanti Madonna hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

“This is one of his first works, which is of great importance for restoring the chronology of his work and the works belonging to his workshop,” said Sergio Fusetti, chief restorer of frescoes in Assisi. “For many years, this chapel was closed and used very rarely and exclusively by monks,” said Fusetti. “Now the restoration will reveal all the beauty and richness of the frescoes, which before that were in very poor condition,” he added.

The frescoes were painted in the year when Gian Gaetano Orsini, deacon of the basilica, was buried here. The chapel itself was commissioned by his brother, the cardinal.

Restoration work begun last year uncovered murals, the authorship of which allegedly belongs to Giotto, depicting the death of St. Francis and the face of the devil, carnivorous peeping out of the cloud. Previously, the murals were hidden under later images.

Anna Sidorova