A Taste of Franciscan Art

Bartolomeo della Gatta ( born Pietro di Antonio Dei) (1448 - 1502)

San Francesco riceve le stimmate; St Francis receives the stigmata

1486-1487

Tempera on panel

186 cm  x 162 cm.

Pinacoteca Comunale, Castiglion Fiorentino

In 1468 Pietro di Antonio Dei of a good Florentine family took holy orders, probably in the Camaldolese monastery of S Maria degli Angeli, Florence, in which his brother Nicolo had already entered. 

In 1470 he was in Arezzo at the convent of S Maria in Gradi (not Santa Maria degli Angeli as reported by Vasari) and had the adopted name of Bartolomeo ('della Gatta' apparently refers to his fondness for a female cat). 

He spent most of the rest of his life in Arezzo, where he became abbot of S Clemente in Arezzo

The building of Santissima Annunziata in Arezzo was directed by Bartolomeo della Gatta and, after his death, by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder. 

He became one of the most original interpreters of Piero della Francesca. 

Most critics regard him as an eclectic and versatile  artist greatly influenced by artists of different styles from Perugino, Signorelli, Piero, Pollaiuolo and Verrocchio . But he had an absolute mastery of the technique of drawing

The work above was commissioned for the Franciscan church of San Francesco in Castiglion Fiorentino

Here we see the passionate religious feelings of the two friars -  St  Francis and his companion, Leone - totally immersed  in the vision of the Seraph and the Stigmata. The setting is La Verna on the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross in September 1223

We also note the broad backdrop of the  Apennine forest, described with realistic attention to the  rough rocks, the sparse vegetation and trees and of course the owl who appears to be looking away from the Vision

But above all we note the light and the exultation as if the whole of God`s Creation animate and inanimate had been transformed:

"in cui il Monte della Vernia parea ch’ardesse di fiamma isplendidissima, la quale risplendeva e illuminava tutti li monti e le valli d’intorno, come se fusse il sole sopra la terra"

The Galleria dell`Accademia in Florence presenly has an exhibition on Franciscan art. It is entitled L’arte di Francesco: Capolavori d’arte italiana e terre d’Asia dal XIII al XV secolo - Franciscan Art

Masterpieces of Italian art and Asian lands from the 13th to the 15th centuries

The exhibition illustrates the flowering of art – painting, sculpture and the sumptuary arts – directly related to the Franciscan movement between the 13th and 15th centuries.  

At the same time, it endeavours to highlight the Franciscans’ astonishing achievement in spreading the gospel throughout Asia, from the Holy Land to China 

The works of art were  commissioned either by Franciscan friars through their most prestigious churches and convents, or by private citizens who nurtured a special devotion for the saint and his immediate followers

Here are some of the other exhibits in the exhibition in Florence:

Maestro del dossale di San Giovanni Battista

San Francesco e quattro storie della sua vita : St Francis and four stories from his Life

c 1270

Tempera on wood panel with gold leaf

173 x 83 cm

Museo d’arte sacra, Orte

St Francis looks haggardly thin

He is holding a book. Either the Gospels or  his Rule

His hand rises in benediction as he looks out at the viewer

On the top left is the scene at La Verna

On the top right is the Sermon to the Birds

On the bottom left is his preaching in Alexandria when he met a rather bemused Sultan

On the bottom right is the recollection of a miracle wrought after his death

The Franciscans were given the Church of Sant`Angelo in Orte in 1259 and the work was commissioned for that church sometime in the 1270s

A century later (1366) it was transferred to the Franciscan church of San Tedoro alla Rocca in Orte

Neapolitan school

St Bernardine of Siena 

1465-1475 

Oil on panel

Sala Capitolare, Monastero di Santa Chiara in via Vitellia, Rome

This work shows the passion of the man

What it was that communicated to the crowds who flocked to hear him preach

Images of the great Franciscan preacher and saint  Bernardine of Siena abound. Here , here and here. 

The price of his stock is low at the moment but will rebound

He  was canonised in 1450 scarcely six years after his death

Maestro di Figline (active 1315-1335 circa)

Madonna col Bambino in trono fra sei angeli, sant’Elisabetta d’Ungheria e san Ludovico di Tolosa

Madonna and Child enthroned with six angels, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and St Louis of Toulouse

1317 -  1320 

Tempera on wood panel with gold leaf 

298 cm. x 175.5 cm.

Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, Figline Valdarno, 

The artist known as Maestro di Figline was active during the first half of the fourteenth century. He was one of the greatest painters of the time and was almost certainly a member of the Franciscan Order

Here we see a reminder of the great devotion of the Franciscan order to the Blessed Vurgin Mary in what seems to be an almost Sienese work

His works can be found in Tuscany and Umbria

His best known work is probably his Crucifixion of 1320 which hangs in Santa Croce, Florence and which has recently been restored. 

Figline Valdarno llies just outside Florence and it is thought that the Madonna and Child was commissioned for a Franciscan church in the town, the Chiesa di San Francesco

The Museum is extremely under-rated (as is the town itself)

It is one of the “piccoli grandi musei” 

Backbiters and Gossips

Dario Cerdoni (called  Dario da Treviso or Dario da Pordenone) (active 1440/ 1498)

San Bernardino da Siena / St Bernardine of Siena

c 1445

Tempera on panel

21,2 cm x 29,5 cm

Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy

This was not the first image (or last) of St Bernardino of Siena painted by the bizarre and restless artist known to history as Darius from Pordenone, Darius from Treviso, or even Darius from Udine

He did not seem to stay in one place for long

But he remained in the Veneto Region

His most important work was a work which was destroyed and no longer exists:  the Madonna della Misericordia between St. John the Baptist and Saint Bernardine. made in 1450 for the Church of San Bernardino in Bassano

The pictor vagabundus may have felt an affinity with his Franciscan subject who traversed the length and breadth of Italy in the early 15th century and became known as "The Apostle of Italy"

Other images of the Saint by Darius include those now at the Museo Antoniano  in Padova, the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in  Milan and the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles 

Dario Cerdoni (called  Dario da Treviso  or Dario da Pordenone) (active 1440/ 1498)

San Bernardino da Siena / St Bernardine of Siena

c 1470

Tempera on panel

178.435 x 71.12 cm

County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 

The saint`s sermons inspired hundreds of thousands probably millions for generations

Today some of his themes (but only a few) are extremely controversial and no longer accepted: his tirades against gambling, usury, homosexuality

And it also has to be said he is not photogenic

He is always depicted as rather grim, definitely ascetic except perhaps those of Spanish painters like El Greco and Goya

The three bishops` mitres represent the three appointments to various important Sees in Italy which he rejected and turned down

But he was canonised scarcely six years after his death. He beat Pope Saint John Paul II to the altars

Yet his sermons are still worth reading with discretion for many of  his topics have a surprising topicality

From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has strongly criticised gossip and backbiting

At his General Audience on 19th June 2013 he said:

"Unity is superior to conflict, always! Conflicts, ifnot properly resolved, divide us from each other,separate us from God. Conflict can help us to grow,but it can also divide us. Let us not go down the pathof division, of fighting among ourselves! All united, allunited in our differences, but united, always: this is theway of Jesus.  

Unity is superior to conflict. Unity is agrace for which we must ask the Lord that he mayliberate us from the temptation of division, of conflict between us, of selfishness, of gossip. How much evilgossip does, how much evil! Never gossip about others, never! "

Gossipers and backbiters were also a favourite target for St Bernardino of Siena. 

However his polemic and invective go far beyond what Pope Francis might feel is decorous. Here is an example from one of the Saint`s sermons. The language in the translation is rather antique and perhaps we could do with a fresh translation:

"Qfttimes the backbiter goeth about with a show kmdness and speaketh evil of others.  

He walketh under the shadow of a fair manner, seeming possessed of charity, and malice lurketh beneath.  

Knowest thou what he doth resemble? He is like to a canker, and outwardly he is glossed over, and such men as these when they wish to hide their malice do after this fashion ; ere they speak of a thing they send before an ambassador. And knowest thou who this ambassador is ? They send forth a sigh,  

What aileth thee, eh? What is it?  I have a great melancholy upon me ! Arid then he will begin and will say: Brother, what I am about to say, I will say for a good purpose, God knoweth it (and he giveth him the sure token ), in faith I wish to tell it thee. Such an one hath done such and such a thing'.  

It seems to me that such another is doing a certain wrong, in my opinion. He doeth this or that, and to me it doth appear that he hath the wish to do thus and thus. And he will say very many things, and in all these he will lie in his throat.  

This evil tongue that doth in this way is like to the scorpion, which doth perform three things, and all maliciously. First, it licketh with its tongue ; second, it encircleth with its claws, third, with its tail it doth twist it, and lift it into the air, and then it doth bite. In this samemanner doth the backbiter do ... 

If thou seest that another doth evil, correct him ^o that which not with a slandering tongue, but with a kind manner, as  the Church hath taught thee. There are very many who see no other evil than that which their neighbour doth perform. 

Art thou here, thou who seest no wrongdoing but that of others ? Pay heed to that which the Gospel saith when it telleth thee that thou seest the mote in the eye of thy neighbour and seest not the beam in thine own.  

And therefore I say to these, see to it that thou dost correct thine own defect, and so thou wilt do better than if thou dost correct others while thou thyself remainest in sin. women, to what are ye bound ? Know ye .what ? Both that ye shall perform good and that ye shall give good example"