ABSTRACT
The church of S. Maria della Carita in Padua, known as the Arena Chapel, was built by Enrico Scrovegni, a man reputed to be the wealthiest in Padua. Enrico Scrovegni’s purchase of the land known as the Arena in 1300 signalled his intention to build on a scale commensurate with his aspirations. The second of Enrico’s portraits, and the subject of this chapter, is a life-size free-standing figure in stone which occupies a niche in the chapel’s sacristy. The chief source for the story of Enrico’s association with the Cavalieri is Giovanni da Nono’s history of local families, the De generatione. Enrico had been knighted by the Venetian state in 1301, and this new condition may be signalled in the image by Enrico’s pose and costume. The chapter outlines the evidence for the statue’s original location and the circumstances of the commission, before discussing its interpretation.
