Saint Francis

This half-length figure of a praying saint comes from the upper tier of a paintings:group82|large [] for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order. Eyes uplifted and lips parted in passionate prayer, he gazes up in agonised adoration: he would originally have been looking at the Lamentation over the Dead Christ once in the centre of the upper tier. The marks of the stigmata – the wounds of the Crucifixion which miraculously appeared on Francis’s body – are visible on his hands and through the tear in the side of his habit. Crivelli has combined an emotional expression of fervent devotion with a degree of realism unusual in Italian fifteenth-century painting: the sinews stand out on Francis’s hands, veins pulsate in his throat and forehead and we can make out every hair in his eyebrows.The Dominicans and Franciscans were friars who took religious vows but were not confined to a monastery – they lived in towns and cities. Founded in the thirteenth century to provide educated preachers and teachers for a growing urban population, both flourished in the Italian Marche. Men who joined these orders took vows of poverty and travelled from place to place, preaching and living on what was given by their listeners – although this did not prevent the Orders commissioning costly works of art.Crivelli has shown Francis here in the ash-grey habit of the especially strict Observant (reformed) Franciscans. The three knots on the belt symbolise the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience all Franciscans took. Saint Francis’s prominence on a Dominican altarpiece perhaps reflects a special sympathy for them on the part of the Observant Dominicans of Ascoli. The austere grey of his habit with its crisp, deep folds forms a striking contrast to the glittering damask patterns tooled into the gilded background. Crivelli was skilled at exploiting the optical effects of the different gold surfaces, which would have flickered and shone in the candlelight of a medieval church, making the smooth gold and pastiglia decoration of Francis’s halo act as a spotlight on his head.Crivelli painted many works for Franciscans of the Marche, including the painting which once hung over the tomb of the Blessed Gabriele Ferretti, and is now in our collection.