St Paul

This image of Saint Paul, dating from around 1290, is part of the fresco cycle in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, one of the most important and debated fresco programs in Italian art. The attribution of the Assisi frescoes to Giotto remains one of the most contested questions in art history, with some scholars assigning them entirely to Giotto and others to an anonymous master or masters working in a related style. The frescoes were painted for the Franciscan order in the church built over the tomb of Saint Francis, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Christendom.

The figure of Paul is rendered in the monumental, volumetric style associated with the Assisi master, with heavy drapery falling in broad, sculptural folds. The fresco technique shows confident buon fresco execution with bold, clear colors applied to wet plaster. The simplified, powerful forms and the figure's imposing frontal presence demonstrate the revolutionary approach to painting the human form that characterized the Assisi workshop.