The Stigmatization of Saint Francis

Taddeo Gaddi's depiction of the Stigmatization of Saint Francis, painted around 1327, takes up the most important miracle in Franciscan hagiography — the moment on Mount La Verna when Francis received the wounds of Christ. As Giotto's foremost pupil and a painter deeply connected to Franciscan patronage in Florence, Gaddi worked within a well-established iconographic tradition for this subject while bringing his own sensitivity to landscape and light.

Painted in egg tempera and gold leaf on panel, the composition follows the established format of Francis kneeling before the seraph-Christ on a rocky mountainside. Gaddi's handling of the landscape setting and atmospheric effects shows an interest in naturalistic observation that distinguishes his work from more formulaic treatments.