Full title | The Wolf of Gubbio |
---|---|
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 x 52.4 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought with contributions from the Art Fund, Benjamin Guinness and Lord Bearsted, 1934 |
Inventory number | NG4762 |
Location | Room 52 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
In around 1220, Saint Francis of Assisi was living in Gubbio, Umbria. When a ferocious wolf began attacking livestock and people, Francis rebuked it, and tamed the animal by making the sign of the cross. He promised that, if it stopped terrorising the city, it would be forgiven and cared for. The wolf placed its right paw in the saint’s hand to seal the bargain.
This is the fifth of eight scenes from the life of Saint Francis made for the back of the double-sided San Sepolcro Altarpiece (seven are in the National Gallery’s collection). Of the eight, only this one depicts an event that’s not mentioned in Francis’s official biography. This scene is drawn from the fourteenth-century Fioretti (‘Little Flowers of Saint Francis’).
The notary on the left who records the bargain between the wolf and the saint was perhaps intended as a compliment to Francesco de' Larghi, the notary who did the paperwork for the altarpiece and oversaw payments for it.
In around 1220, Saint Francis of Assisi was living in Gubbio in Umbria, when a fierce wolf began attacking local livestock. It soon graduated to eating people, and would wait by the city gates and pounce on anyone foolish enough to step outside. No one seemed able to kill it, and the city was in a state of siege when Francis offered to go outside and negotiate with the beast. Although advised against this, he set out with a small band of followers to find the wolf’s lair.
On seeing the saint the wolf rushed at him, but Francis made the sign of the cross and spoke severely to it, at which point the wolf lay down at his feet. He rebuked the animal for attacking humans, but promised that, if it stopped terrorising the city, it would be forgiven and cared for. The wolf placed its right paw in the saint’s hand to seal the bargain, and followed him back to Gubbio. The people were astonished to see the saint and the now-tame wolf, but Francis explained their pact, and once again the wolf put its paw in his hand to signify its agreement. The wolf allegedly lived for another two years in the city, being fed by the grateful populace.
This is the fifth of eight paintings from the San Sepolcro Altarpiece, a large and magnificent polyptych painted for the Franciscan church of Borgo San Sepolcro, and installed on the high altar there in 1444. The back of the altarpiece showed Saint Francis in Glory surrounded by eight scenes from his life (seven are in our collection). This panel was in the top row, to the right of the main panel. Its landscape continues in Saint Francis before the Sultan, which was originally next to it.
This is a rarely depicted scene, and the only one represented on the San Sepolcro Altarpiece that is not in Francis‘ official biography, the Legenda Maior. Instead, the artist and his advisers followed the account in the late fourteenth-century Fioretti (’Little Flowers of St Francis‘). Sassetta has compressed the story somewhat and set it outside the walls of Gubbio. The wolf places its paw in the saint’s hand, watched by a crowd of townsfolk and another friar. To the left a notary writes down their agreement; on the right are the scattered bones and body parts of the wolf’s victims. Women watch from a safe distance, peeping between the battlements of the city gate. The presence of the notary is unexpected, and it was perhaps intended as a compliment to Francesco de’Larghi, the notary who did the paperwork for the altarpiece and oversaw payments for it.
How Sassetta depicted the various stories was affected by contemporary Franciscan doctrines. The wolf, a traditional symbol of avarice, is an allegory for the taming of worldly desires, a particularly important theme in the light of Observant (reformed) tendencies in the Franciscan Order. Francis himself was always shown, as here, with another friar as a companion: from 1336 all friars had to travel in pairs, to keep an eye on each other. The friar here has his hands tucked in his sleeves and his head covered, in accordance with the custom of the Order.
Technical investigation reveals that changes were made during the execution of this painting. Infrared reflectography has shown an incised perspective grid in the lower part of the painting, which seems to bear no relation to the scene as painted. This may suggest that a different composition was originally planned. The flight of birds was originally incised as a straight line, but eventually painted as a graceful curve.
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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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