Full title | The Stigmatisation of Saint Francis |
---|---|
Artist | Sassetta |
Artist dates | active by 1427; died 1450 |
Series | San Sepolcro Altarpiece |
Date made | 1437-44 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on poplar |
Dimensions | 87.8 x 52.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought with contributions from the Art Fund, Benjamin Guinness and Lord Bearsted, 1934 |
Inventory number | NG4760 |
Location | Room 52 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
Saint Francis of Assisi kneels in a rocky landscape, hands raised in prayer, gazing up at a vision of Christ floating in the sky. Christ has the six wings of a seraphim and his arms are extended as if on the Cross. Rays from Christ’s stigmata – the wounds he received at the Crucifixion – impress the same wounds on Saint Francis.
This painting is the fourth of eight scenes representing the life of Saint Francis that were made for the back of the San Sepolcro Altarpiece (seven are in the National Gallery’s collection). This was on the bottom row on the left, next to Saint Francis before the Pope: The Granting of the Indulgence of the Portiuncula. The Portiuncula Indulgence, one of the first to grant absolution from all sins, was controversial as it had not been confirmed by a papal bull. Franciscan writers claimed that God had granted Francis the stigmata as a visible sign of divine approval.
Saint Francis of Assisi kneels in a rocky landscape, hands raised in prayer, gazing up at a vision of Christ floating in the sky. Christ has the six wings of a seraphim and his arms are extended as if on the Cross. Rays from Christ’s stigmata – the wounds he received at the Crucifixion – impress the same wounds on Saint Francis. Both the saint and the rocky landscape with its tiny chapel are illuminated by the light emanating from Christ; Francis’s body and the fingers of his raised left hand cast a shadow on the ground behind him.
The stigmatisation, the culminating miracle of Francis’s life, occurred in 1224. According to his official biography, the Legenda Maior, he spent 40 days fasting and praying on Mount La Verna, near Arezzo. One morning when deep in prayer, he had a vision of seraphim embracing the crucified Christ. When the vision vanished, he found that his hands and feet were marked as if nails were protruding from front and back, and a scar appeared on his side, which welled blood – tokens of his spiritual transformation into another Christ.
This painting is the fourth of eight scenes representing the life of Saint Francis that were made for the back of a large and magnificent double-sided altarpiece painted by Sassetta for the high altar of San Francesco at Borgo San Sepolcro. The back showed Saint Francis in Glory (Berenson Collection, Villa I Tatti, Settingnano) surrounded by eight scenes of episodes from his life, seven of which are in our collection. The scenes were arranged in pairs: this one was on the bottom row on the left, next to Saint Francis before the Pope: The Granting of the Indulgence of the Portiuncula.
This is in many ways a traditional composition: the saint’s pose, the winged seraphim and inclusion of Brother Leo, the figure seated on the ground at the right, are all recognisable from Giotto’s fresco of this scene in the Upper Church of at Assisi. There are, however, unusual details. Prominently placed in the middle of the scene is a carefully carved recess containing a bare but bleeding cross, on which is hung a crown of thorns. The perspective of this scene is carefully coordinated with that of its neighbour, the Granting of the Indulgence, and the chapel on the left is a formal echo of the door set in the wall behind the papal throne, as if you could walk from one scene into the other.
The positioning of the scene in the cycle is also is surprising. Traditionally, this episode was shown immediately before the saint’s death, as the culmination of his imitation of the life of Christ, but the scripta, the written instructions given to Sassetta by the friars, put it next to Granting of the Indulgence. This placing was not accidental. The Portiuncula Indulgence, one of the first to grant absolution from all sins, was controversial as it had not been confirmed by a papal bull. Franciscan writers vigorously defended it, explaining that instead of a written authorisation, God had granted Francis the stigmata as a visible sign of divine approval.
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San Sepolcro Altarpiece
These paintings were once part of one of the largest and most splendid altarpieces of the early Italian Renaissance. Made up of almost 60 panels, the double-sided altarpiece was painted for the high altar of San Francesco in Borgo San Sepolcro, a town near Arezzo. The back, which was seen primarily by the friars, showed Saint Francis in glory surrounded by eight scenes of his life, seven of which are in the National Gallery’s collection.
Unusually, surviving documents tell us a lot about how it was commissioned, constructed and paid for. The project was begun in 1426 but had foundered, and in September 1437 Sassetta took over. In early 1439 two friars visited him in Siena, bringing the scripta, a document stating what he was to depict. Although they provided the text, the artist provided the imagination: the scripta states that the friars, themselves artisans, and the painter together should decide on the details.
These paintings of episodes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi come from the back of one of the largest and most splendid altarpieces of the early Italian Renaissance. Made up of almost 60 panels and measuring 6 m high by 5 m wide, this double-sided polyptych was painted for the high altar of San Francesco in Borgo San Sepolcro, a town near Arezzo.
Double-sided altarpieces were a particular feature of Franciscan churches in Umbria, where the friars sat in stalls behind the altarpiece. Taddeo di Bartolo had made a similar construction for San Francesco al Prato in Perugia in 1403, and several decades before one was painted for a church in the neighbouring town of Città di Castello. Unusually, surviving documents tell us a lot about how the San Sepolcro altarpiece was commissioned, constructed and paid for. In 1426 the operai (the group that oversaw the works and furnishing of the church) contracted a carpenter to carve a double-sided altarpiece. The young Piero della Francesca began working on it in 1432, but it was abandoned and a new start was made. In September 1437, Sassetta took over the project.
Two copies of the 1437 contract survive (one for the artist, one for the friars). In it Sassetta agreed make an identical wooden altarpiece and to paint it with stories chosen by the friars, using the finest pigments and the best of his skill and ingenuity, within four years. Rather than work at San Francesco, Sassetta chose to remain in Siena: he was to transport the completed sections to Borgo San Sepolcro and assemble them there. For this he was to be paid the enormous sum of 510 florins (the cost of about five respectable middle-class houses at that time).
The first installment was paid in February 1438. Nearly a year later two friars visited Sassetta, bringing the scripta, a document stating what he was to depict. Although they provided the text, the artist provided the imagination: the scripta states that the friars, themselves artisans, and the painter together should decide on the details. In general, they followed the narratives of Francis' official biography, Saint Bonaventure’s Legenda Maior, so closely that it’s tempting to think of them all studying the texts together.
On the front of the altarpiece, facing the nave, were the Virgin and Child with angels (Louvre, Paris), flanked by Saint John the Baptist and the Blessed Ranieri Rasini (Berenson Collection, Villa I Tatti, Settignano) on the left, and Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Anthony of Padua on the right (Louvre, Paris). The predella showed scenes of the Passion of Christ; other saints decorated the pinnacles. The back, seen primarily by the friars, showed Saint Francis in glory surrounded by eight scenes of his life, seven of which are in the National Gallery’s collection. The back-facing predella showed episodes from the life of Ranieri Rasini, a local holy man who was buried beneath the altar.
The altarpiece was installed on 2 June 1444, seven years after it was commissioned. We know from a nineteenth-century drawing that it was inscribed with the name of the artist and the date, and also the names of the two operai responsible, Christopher and Andrew. The eponymous saints for those involved in the commission appeared in the piers and pinnacles.
The altarpiece was dismantled during the Counter-Reformation in the late sixteenth century, and its panels dispersed after the monastery’s suppression in 1808–10 (28 survive in collections across the world).







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