''Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata'' is a

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

by the Italian artist

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...

, painted around 1295–1300 for the Church of Saint Francis in Pisa and it is now in the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in Paris. It shows an episode from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, and is 314 cm high (to the top of the triangule) by 162 cm wide. It is signed OPUS IOCTI FLORENTINI ("Work of Florentine Giotto").

History

In his ''Le Vite'',

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

mentions the work in a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

chapel of the church of San Francesco in Pisa. Despite having been disputed, the work is now generally recognized to be by Giotto, being also signed; it has been dated from shortly before or after the '' Stories of St. Francis'' in Assisi, around 1295–1300. In 1813 it became property of the Louvre (inv. 309), as part of the Napoleonic looting of art in Italy, together with

Cimabue Cimabue (; ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World’s Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian painter ...

's ''

Maestà Maestà , the Italian word for "majesty", designates a classification of images of the enthroned Madonna with the child Jesus, the designation generally implying accompaniment by angels, saints, or both. The ''Maestà'' is an extension of the "Se ...

'', also from San Francesco. Jean Baptise Henraux took it, due to the interest of

Dominique Vivant Denon Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon (4 January 1747 – 27 April 1825) was a French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. Denon was a diplomat for France under Louis XV and Louis XVI. He was appointed as the first Director of the Louvre ...

, who was particularly passionate about "primitive" Italian paintings. It was put on display in the Louvre in 1814. After the restitution of artworks seized at the time, the great panel was one of the paintings that remained in France.

Description

Stigmatisation

The work has a rectangular shape in the lower part, ending with a triangular cusp, and has a gold ground. It depicts St. Francis receiving the stigmata during his prayer on Mount Alverno from a flying Christ who appears to him as a seraphim. The latter's wounds emit light rays which strike Francis' body. The background is a mix of newer and old elements, the latter including the very generic mountains and the lack of proportions in the landscape elements. The chapels in the mount show the attempt to draw them according to

geometrical perspective Linear or point-projection perspective (from la, perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, ...

. Francis' face is characterized by a strong use of

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

. The scene was innovative as it abandoned the

Italo-Byzantine Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art. It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but pa ...

tradition of inexpressive figures as the center of paintings in favor of a moment of action as the principal subject (compare the works of Bonaventura Berlinghieri and the Master of San Francesco Bardi, or Giotto's own Badia Polyptych). At the left and right corners, the heraldry of the Ughi or Cinquini family is visible.

Predella

The

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

shows three scenes from the saint's life: ''The Dream of Pope Innocent III'', ''The Approval of the Franciscan Rule'', and ''The Sermon to the Birds''. These depictions are also generally attributed to Giotto, and are strongly tied to the frescoes of Assisi. The panel is signed OPUS IOCTI FLORENTINI ("The work of Giotto of Florence"). ''The Dream'' shows the collapse of Laterano, with its church tilting and a column just breaking. The presence of Saint Peter to indicate that the Pope is sleeping during the vision was an innovative technique at the time. ''The Approval'', on the other hand, is very similar to Giotto's fresco in the

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; la, Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in ce ...

''Innocence III Confirms the Franciscan Order'' and is placed in a similar room with arches and shelves to create perspective. ''The Sermon'' stands out for its simplicity and abstraction, thanks to its gold background without decorations. In general, the style of the scenes shows greater Gothic elegance than the three stories of the Fransciscan cycle in Giotto's Assisi frescoes and serves as a point of comparison to Giottesque artists such as the

Master of St Cecilia The Master of St Cecilia is the notname given to an Italian painter active circa 1290 to 1320 in Florence and its environs.Hans M. Schmidt, et al. "Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Pre ...

. File:Giotto. Predella 1.jpg, ''The Dream of Pope Innocent III'' File:Giotto. Predella 2.jpg, ''The Approval of the Franciscan Rule'' File:Giotto. Predella 3.jpg, ''The Sermon to the Birds

References

Sources

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External links

Page at the museum's website

Stigmatization of St Francis – Analysis and Critical Reception
{{Authority control 1290s paintings Paintings by Giotto Paintings depicting Jesus Paintings of Francis of Assisi Birds in art Panel painting Paintings in Paris