“Saint Francis of Assisi”
This altarpiece, titled “Saint Francis of Assisi”, is by the Italian Gothic artist, Bonaventura Berlinghieri. It is tempera on wood and was painted in 1235 for the predella, the base of the altarpiece, at the Church of San Francesco of Pescia in Italy, where it remains to this day. This is the most famous piece painted by Berlinghieri.
Berlinghieri painted the life of Saint Francis seen here in the Byzantine style of art, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire style. This mostly depicted religious scenes in impersonal ways, adhering strictly to the controlled vision of the church’s theology. “Saint Francis of Assisi” consists of a main central panel, with the large figure of Francis displaying the stigmata. The smaller scenes along the sides depict scenes from Saint Francis’s life. This is one of the earliest known pieces of art depicting Saint Francis of Assisi, as he was only just canonized in 1228.
Saint Francis of Assisi is often considered one of the greatest saints in the Christian tradition. He lived from circa 1181/1182 to 1226. He was born as Giovanni to a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy. His father was a cloth merchant who specialized in silk who was in France when his son was born. Maybe because of that, his father started calling him Francesco, meaning “the Frenchman”, and the name stuck.
Francis’s early years were spent like any other wealthy youth, and he was fond of the finer things of life. At 19 years of age, in 1201, Francis served in a military campaign against the neighboring Italian city state of Perugia. Things went awry and he was captured and remained a prisoner for a year. Francis returned home briefly and lived the life he had previously, before joining another military expedition. He wasn’t with them for too long before a vision occurred to him and made him return home.
This time, upon his return, Francis was a changed man. He chose to abandon earthly riches and live a chaste life as a beggar in poverty. In 1210, with Pope Innocent III’s blessing, Francis founded the monastic Franciscan order. He devoted his life to the principles of poverty and the teachings of Jesus Christ. In 1224, Francis had a vision of an angel who gave him the stigmata. It is said that his wounds from the stigmata, as well as from the infectious disease, trachoma, led to his death in 1226. Two years later, in 1228, Pope Gregory IX, a friend of his, canonized Francis into a saint.
As mentioned above, “Saint Francis of Assisi” can be seen today on the predella at the Church of San Francesco of Pescia in Italy.
For more on Bonaventura Berlinghieri, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
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