In a New Light: Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert
AOA NEWS
NEW YORK - Following a recent investigation, Giovanni Bellini's, "St. Francis in the Desert" will be featured in display at Manhattan's Frick Collection through August 28, 2011.
This masterpiece of spiritual poetry has enthralled generations of visitors to The Frick Collection. A monumental painting, the largest work on panel at the Frick, it portrays Francesco Bernardone of Assisi (c. 1181–1226), the medieval saint who renounced earthly riches to embrace a life of poverty, humility, simplicity, and prayer and was honored for his empathetic faith with the stigmata, the imprint of the five wounds of Christ's Crucifixion (see image below). A recent technical investigation addressed some longstanding questions about the picture's meaning. It had been proposed that the scene once contained a winged seraph on a cross, delivering the wounds of the Crucifixion to Francis. The technical study strongly discounts this possibility: the painting probably never contained a seraph. The examination also confirmed that the subtle stigmata on Francis's hands are the original work of Bellini himself — not a later retouching — and that the saint once bore a wound on his left foot as well. Owing to abrasion of the paint surface over time, this detail is no longer visible to the naked eye.[link]
 |
| "St. Francis in the Desert" (1475-1478) By Giovanni Bellini |
This masterpiece of spiritual poetry has enthralled generations of visitors to The Frick Collection. A monumental painting, the largest work on panel at the Frick, it portrays Francesco Bernardone of Assisi (c. 1181–1226), the medieval saint who renounced earthly riches to embrace a life of poverty, humility, simplicity, and prayer and was honored for his empathetic faith with the stigmata, the imprint of the five wounds of Christ's Crucifixion (see image below). A recent technical investigation addressed some longstanding questions about the picture's meaning. It had been proposed that the scene once contained a winged seraph on a cross, delivering the wounds of the Crucifixion to Francis. The technical study strongly discounts this possibility: the painting probably never contained a seraph. The examination also confirmed that the subtle stigmata on Francis's hands are the original work of Bellini himself — not a later retouching — and that the saint once bore a wound on his left foot as well. Owing to abrasion of the paint surface over time, this detail is no longer visible to the naked eye.[link]
