After eight months of restoration, the scaffolding finally came down March 18 on one of the world's great art treasures, the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. The 700-year-old chapel contains frescoes depicting more than 100 scenes from the Bible painted by the early Renaissance painter Giotto between 1303 and 1305, and they are considered his masterpiece. The frescoes are seen as one of the major turning points in the history of European painting. For centuries, painting had followed a slavish, almost formulaic pattern that became highly stylized and was descended from the Byzantine tradition. Figures were flattened and perspective was...