The Arrest of Christ (Kiss of Judas)

Judas had agreed to betray Christ to the authorities for thirty pieces of silver, identifying him with a kiss (Matthew 26:47-56). Giotto freezes the whole tumult of the night arrest - torches, clubs, and spears bristling against the sky - around the still center where Judas, wrapping Christ in his yellow cloak, meets his unflinching gaze. At the left the apostle Peter lunges to cut off a servant's ear. From the Arena Chapel in Padua, it is the most psychologically charged of Giotto's frescoes: a crowd in uproar held motionless by a single look.