Saint Francis of Assisi, part of an altarpiece

ca. 1460

The Vivarini brothers, Bartolomeo and Antonio, were significant figures in Venetian painting of the second half of the fifteenth century. This image was part of a larger polyptych (or multi-panel work) whose other elements have not been identified. Active in the early thirteenth century, Saint Francis made a great contribution not only to the reform of monastic practice, but also to the evolving concept of Christianity as a force for compassion in human life. He is typically shown, as here, with the plain brown robe and bare feet of the mendicant (or almsseeking) friar. Here he also displays, on his hand, foot, and barely visible chest, the marks of the Stigmata, the five wounds of Christ on the Cross, which the saint was said to have received in a moment of mystic revelation.