Saint Francis
Carlo Crivelli·1476
Historical Context
Crivelli's Saint Francis belongs to the same 1476 polyptych series as his Saint Thomas Aquinas, painted for a Franciscan context in the Marche. Francis, the founder of the Franciscan Order, is shown with the stigmata — the wound marks on his hands, feet, and side that he received, according to tradition, on La Verna in 1224 — and with his characteristic brown habit. Crivelli, who worked extensively for Franciscan patrons throughout the Marche, painted Francis many times, and each version reflects his understanding of Franciscan theology's emphasis on the bodily reality of Christ's suffering experienced in the saint's own flesh.
Technical Analysis
Crivelli renders Francis's stigmata as actual wounds in the flesh rather than abstract marks, the physical reality of the wounds consistent with his generally intense approach to pain and suffering in religious imagery. The brown Franciscan habit is described cloth-by-cloth, its mended quality and roughness communicating poverty. The landscape setting, unusual alongside the gold ground, suggests a later refinement.
