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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 particular scene depicts Pope Innocent dreaming of Francis rebuilding the Christian church, quite literally on the left side of the fresco. The dream, as the upcoming scenes depict, would encourage the Pope to issue a Bull in recognition of the Franciscan Order. 

Despite some issues with damp on the top corner of the building, this fresco has survived remarkably well, as has the majority of the Saint Francis cycle positioned on the lower portions of the walls. As mentioned, Saint Francis is depicted propping up a church, here resembling the Lateran Palace in its original form. Weighted orthogonals produced by the ingenious tilted ground plane create the impression of both the monumentality of the building, but also the compression of space, as Francis is literally squashed between the two buildings. However he still manages to hold his own, commanding the space as the protagonist of the fresco cycle. Francis occupies the corner column of the structure, giving essential stability to the building, literally presenting the dream of the Pope who lies next door, in visual form: Francis will be the one to rebuild and hold up the church of Christ. Francis looks up towards the top of the building, his face relaxed, hand on hip to display his confidence, despite supporting the entirety of Christianity with one hand. In this respect, he can also be regarded as imitato Christi, or a second Christ. Saint Francis becomes a pillar of the church in this scene, and interestingly the door of the church is open, already prepared to invite the Franciscan community in. Just one part of the scene shows the ingenuity and skill of the artist(s) who created the fresco cycle. 

This fresco was almost definitely produced before the turn of the century, yet some commentators have referenced the use of proto-perspective in the management of space. Certainly the tilted building is highly unusual, but equally convincing. Within the bed chamber of the Pope, symmetry and cleaner proportions dictate the space. Firstly, it is an incredibly lofty space, having felt so compressed on the outside with the collapsing church. Secondly, the two figures sitting below the sleeping figure of the Pope create symmetry and harmony to the interior scene, whilst directing the eye to the vivid red bed and dreamer. Thirdly, the curtain that wraps around the scene is particularly influential in dictating space, giving an innovative three-dimensionality to the picture plane, whilst also mimicking the slightly curved body of the Pope, head and shoulders raised as though propped up by a pillow. The structure of the Pope's bechamber is open, inviting the spectator to move on to the next scene, which fill form the beginning of the next bay in the architecture at Assisi. The space is innovative, unique and fundamental to understanding not just the origins of the Franciscan Order, but their primary motivations of humility, piety and most importantly brotherhood. 

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