Narrative and repetition


In the beginning of Analytical Philosophy of Action, Arthur Danto considers this striking case study: “In the middle band of six tableaux, on the north wall of the Arena Chapel in Padua, Giotto has narrated in six episodes the missionary period in the life of Christ. In each panel, the dominating Christ-figure is shown with a raised arm. This invariant disposition of his arm notwithstanding, a different kind of action is performed by means of it from scene to scene…

Disputing with the elders, the raised arm is admonitory… at the wedding feast of Cana, it… has caused water to become wine; at the baptism it is raised as a sign of acceptance; it commands Lazarus; it blesses the people at the Jerusalem gate; it expels the lenders at the temple. Since the raised arm is invariantly present, these performative differences must be explained through variations in context.”

Danto describes Giotto’s spatial dispersion of six raised arms, which are indiscernible until placed in context of the narratives told in those individual framed images…




David Carrier