Stigmata of St Francis (Giotto)

Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata
Artist	Giotto
Year	1295–1300
Medium	Tempera on panel
Dimensions	313 cm × 163 cm (123 in × 64 in)
Location	Louvre, Paris

Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata is a panel painting in tempera by the Italian artist Giotto, painted around 1295–1300 and now in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. It shows an episode from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, and is 314 cm high (to the top of the triangule) by 162 cm wide.

Giorgio Vasari mentions the work in a transept chapel of the church of San Francesco in Pisa. Despite having been disputed, the work is now generally recognized to be by Giotto, being also signed; it has been dated from shortly before or after the Stories of St. Francis in Assisi, around 1295–1300.

It was acquired by the Louvre in 1813, as part of the Napoleonic looting of artworks in Italy, together with Cimabue's Maestà, also from San Francesco.

The work has a rectangular shape in the lower part, ending with a triangular cusp, and has a golden background above which is St. Francis receiving the stigmata during his prayer on Mount Alverno from a flying Christ who appears him as a seraphim. The latter's wounds emit light rays which strike Francis' body. The scene was innovative as it abandoned the Byzantine tradition of inexpressive, frontal figures; the background is a mix of newer and old elements, the latter including the very generic mountains and the lack of proportions in the landscape elements. The chapels in the mount show the attempt to draw them according to geometrical perspective. Francis' face is characterized by a strong use of chiaroscuro.

The predella shows three scenes from the saint's life, the Dream of Pope Innocent III, The Approval of the Franciscan Rule, and the Sermon to the Birds. These depictions are also generally attributed to Giotto, and are strongly tied to the frescoes in Assisi. The panel is signed OPUS IOCTI FLORENTINI ("the work of Giotto of Florence").

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