Giotto, Entrance to Jerusalem

Description

From the left, Jesus advances on a donkey towards the gates of Jerusalem, followed by the Apostles and going to meet a curious crowd: those who prostrate, those who rush to see, those who are surprised, etc. Although the writing denotes a not full autograph of the episode, the scene stands out as one of the most vividly natural of the cycle, with a series of internal episodes taken from everyday life, such as that of the man who covers his head with his cloak or the two children who climb the trees to pluck the olive branches to throw to the Savior and to see better, a detail derived from the Byzantine tradition, but here more realistic than ever, as already appeared in the Stories of St. Francis in Assisi, in particular in the scene of the Lamentation of the Poor Clares.