Full title | A Crowned Female Figure (Saint Elizabeth of Hungary?) |
---|---|
Artist | Pietro Lorenzetti and Workshop |
Artist dates | active possibly 1306; died probably 1348 |
Series | Pietro Lorenzetti Fresco Fragments |
Date made | possibly about 1336-40 |
Medium and support | Fresco (with areas of secco) |
Dimensions | 38 x 33 cm |
Acquisition credit | Layard Bequest, 1916 |
Inventory number | NG3071 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
The crown and the millstone, faintly visible at her right side, suggest the woman may be Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who according to legend, after her death cured the hand of man after it was crushed by a millstone. Though royal, she joined a Franciscan lay order and took a vow of poverty, dedicating her life to charity.
This fragment of fresco once formed part of the border decoration of a large wall painting in the chapter house of San Francesco, Siena. It was removed in the nineteenth century and purchased by the archaeologist and National Gallery trustee, Austen Henry Layard. As an example of the work of the workshop of the Sienese painter Pietro Lorenzetti, who, with his brother decorated important public and religious buildings in Siena with frescoes, it was a desirable object despite its poor condition. Layard was a member of the Arundel Society founded to document and preserve Italian frescoes.
This is a fragment of a wall-painting by Pietro Lorenzetti, who, with his brother,Ambrogio, decorated some of the most important religious and public buildings in Siena. The millstone at the woman’s right side, now only faintly visible, could mean that she is Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. In a miracle said to have taken place after her death, Elizabeth cured a man’s hand that had been damaged by a millstone. Furthermore, Elizabeth is often depicted with a lapful of roses: the way the fingers of her right hand bend suggests that she may be lifting a garment to preserve the flowers in her lap, but the fragment is too damaged to be certain. Though she joined a Franciscan lay order and chose a life of poverty, she is often shown wearing a crown as a sign of her royal status. Here it is paired with a nun’s habit. Traces of paint from her dress reveal it was made up of black, yellow and some red to create a purple-brown shade.
Like A Group of Four Poor Clares and A female Saint (the Annunciate Virgin or one of the Marys?), it is likely that this fresco fragment came from the chapter house of the convent church of San Francesco, Siena. Other frescoes in the chapter house were The Crucifixion and The resurrected Christ, both painted by Pietro. His brother Ambrogio painted a further two: Pope Boniface receiving Louis of Toulouse as a Novice and The Martyrdom of the Franciscans. The cycle of images may also have included The Stigmatisation of Saint Francis – the moment the saint in prayer received the wounds of Christ, caused by the nails of the Crucifixion.
The figure is shown only in bust length and is surrounded by a hexagonal shape; the outline may have been painted blue or green but the paint has been lost. It would have formed part of the border decoration of a scene. Its decorative, rather than narrative, role and its relatively poor quality of painting suggest that it was painted by a member of Pietro’s workshop.
The fragment was purchased by the archaeologist, diplomat, MP and National Gallery trustee, Sir Austen Henry Layard, who left it to the gallery in his will. As a member of the Arundel Society, created to document and preserve Italian frescoes, he was interested in fresco as a medium. Layard claimed that he bought these fragments ‘from a man who had cut them out of the wall’ but he mistakenly thought they had come from the church of S. Agostino in Siena.
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A Crowned Female Figure (Saint Elizabeth of Hungary?)
Pietro Lorenzetti Fresco Fragments
These two fragments of frescoes (which were painted directly onto a freshly plastered wall) come from the Sienese convent church of San Francesco. They were part of the border decoration of larger fresco paintings on the walls of the church’s chapter house. By the time they were discovered in the mid-nineteenth century, the chapter house had been converted into a blacksmith’s workshop and the frescoes had been covered with whitewash.
Once restored, the larger surviving frescoes were moved to chapels in the church itself. These fragments appear almost monochrome as their removal from the wall damaged the coloured surface painting, revealing the brownish preparatory design below.
These two fragments of frescoes – a female saint and a crowned woman – were discovered in the mid-nineteenth century in what was once the chapter house of the Franciscan convent of San Francesco in Siena. The room was being used as a blacksmith’s workshop when plaster fell off the wall to reveal paintings. All of the whitewash that had been painted over the walls was removed to discover what lay beneath.
A number of images were revealed. Opposite the entrance to the room was a large scene of the Crucifixion, and on one wall was The Martyrdom of the Franciscans as well as Pope Boniface receiving Saint Louis of Toulouse as a novice. The frescoes were attributed to the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, the leading Sienese painters of their generation, responsible for a number of public commissions including frescoes for the city’s town hall, the Palazzo Pubblico.
The frescoes were restored and the majority were moved to chapels within the church itself. But removing them damaged the surface in some areas, and fine details painted over the top of the frescoes as finishing touches have in some cases been lost. This explains why we can see the brownish underpainting in these figures. The traces of faintly visible decorative detail surrounding the two fragments show that they came from the borders of the larger scenes.


More paintings by Pietro Lorenzetti
