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.
