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Showing posts from February, 2024

Giotto(?), 'Dream of Pope Innocent', c1295-9

  Positioned on the north wall of the nave in the Upper Church of San Francesco at Assisi, the narrative cycles depicting the life and deeds of Saint Francis encircle the viewer in a clockwise motion. The cycle is highly discussed in the history of art, particularly through the lens of attribution which continues to be debated. Perhaps it was the young Giotto, the most likely candidate, or perhaps it was a Roman master, given the pervasion of Roman architecture and iconography in the scenes. Some writers prefer to sit on the fence, attributing the frescoes to the 'Master of Saint Francis'. These debates were best outlined in Alastair Smart's 'The Assisi Problem'. Nevertheless, the artist knits together a complicated array of scenes both through narrative and wider theological concepts. They concern the early life of Saint Francis, the formation of the Order, his works and good deeds, his death, his swift canonisation and conclude with his posthumous miracles. This p