Raffaello (1483-1520)
San Francesco d’Assisi (Saint Francis of Assisi)
c.1502
Oil on panel, 25.8 x 16.8 cm
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
This panel was originally part of the base (predella) of the Colonna Altarpiece (Pala Colonna).
Saint Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) was an Italian Catholic friar who took a vow of poverty, dedicating his life to God. He travelled around Italy preaching and founded the Franciscan Order. This religious group was founded during the twelfth century and continues to this day. Saint Francis is believed to have had a vision of an angel while praying on a mountain. During the vision, he received the stigmata – a replication of the wounds that Christ received upon his crucifixion (on his hands and feet, from the nails, and in his side, from a lance). In this painting, Saint Francis is identified by the wound in his side as well as the brown robe and belt worn by members of the Franciscan Order.
Along with a small painting depicting Saint Anthony of Padua – also in the Dulwich Picture Gallery collection – this is one of the outer panels from a predella, the long horizontal structure at the base of an altarpiece. It formed part of the Colonna Altarpiece, which was painted by the Italian artist Raphael (1483-1520) in around 1502, for the Franciscan convent of Sant’Antonio in Perugia, Italy. The intact altarpiece hung in a part of the church reserved for the nuns of the convent until 1663 when the nuns of Sant’Antonio sold the predella to cover their debts. The main part of the altarpiece, together with one predella panel, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The other predella panels are in the National Gallery, London and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. (DPG)
The Colonna Altarpiece
Raffaello (1483-1520)
Pala Colonna
c.1504–1505
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Main panel:
Raffaello (1483-1520)
Madonna in trono con santi
c.1504–1505
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Predella:
Raffaello (1483-1520)
L’orazione nell’Orto
c.1504–1505
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Raffaello (1483-1520)
Processione al Calvario
c.1504–1505
National Gallery, London
Raffaello (1483-1520)
Pietà
c.1503–1505
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Raffaello (1483-1520)
Sant’Antonio da Padova
c.1502
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Raphael painted this altarpiece around 1504/5 for the Franciscan convent of Sant’Antonio in Perugia. It hung in a part of the church reserved for the nuns, who may have insisted on its conservative details, such as the elaborately clothed Christ. By contrast, the weighty male saints reflect the progressive style developed by Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo that Raphael had just begun to study in Florence. The lunette above the main panel depicts God the Father holding a globe and delivering a blessing between two angels and two seraphim. (MET)