Giotto employed the African,
whose features leave
no uncertainty
about racial identity,
to heighten the drama
of the painting.
Whether the artist intended some
form of color imagery by
contrasting this man to the
pale-complexioned Lord,is not clear.
The other figures who mock
Christ
are white and Giotto did not
customarily portray the prosecutors
of Christ or the Saints as black.
Indeed, this may be
the only instance in his ëoeuvre.í
Most likely, the use of a black man
means nothing more than that Giotto
recognized and was taking advantage
of the theatrical possibilities of using
a dark-skinned complexioned
figure in his composition.
Peter A. Mark,
Giotto, 1305
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