Giotto, (1304-6). The Kiss of Judas [fresco]. Church of the Twelfth Century.

Judas’ face seems to have a more bulbous, animal-like form than the rest of the figures, suggesting his treacherous nature. Strong use of abstraction is used to promote the action of the scene; for example, nearly all faces are forced into 90º angles to help control lines of sight. |

This work is semi-abstract, resting on the natural side. The scene is chaos between two factions: The followers of Christ outnumbered against those who denounce him. Lateral motion is created in three near-registers. Across the top, rods and torches break into the sky, each being held by a single figure, yet their arrangement suggests their movement as the wielder strikes his target. Circular shapes (figure heads in profile) create a lateral pattern across the canvas, as do the larger shapes built on clothing and their enriched folds. The color scheme seems to be double complementary: red/green and blue/orange, with some related adjacent colors employed.

The figures nearly interlock, but this treatment creates an obvious, if rigid, sense of spatial depth, which is a secondary consideration in this work. Further back detail is purged and forms merge to create unified objects communicating “crowd”. This work is stiff in general, even though there is a sense of time and motion created by the lateral patterns. This, and the nearly-even distribution of shapes result in a solidly stable composition.

Value is used to greatest effect in this painting: contrasts define shapes and direct attention throughout the canvas. The lighter colors of the weapons clash against the dense value treatment of the sky. All identifiable lines and shape edges fall somewhere between mechanical and natural. Sight lines, clothing folds and raised rods direct the eye towards the haloed head figure of Christ, near the center of the canvas. His importance as the primary focal point is underscored by the value contrast created by his hair and halo. His interaction with Judas is next, the viewer considering the title of work in combination with the second figure’s activity. The figure to the lower-right, with outstretched arm, holds some gravity in how his form is placed on an isolated lateral plane. 

This work is said to be one of the initial attempts at developing value to the achievement of chiaroscuro, which can be seen in the heavy shade development in the clothing folds. The pacing of elements in this work is expert, as is the nearly-realistic rendering of the figures.