Altar with St Francis, by Bonaventura Berlinghieri, 1235, Italy, Gothic,

 

Altar with St Francis, by Bonaventura Berlinghieri, 1235, Italy, Gothic,

I want to introduce you to another giant figure in terms of religious thought and its shift towards a more humanistic and personalized view of Christianity, Saint Francis.  I’ll make it a combined introduction to an important painter, the guild system he worked within, and how his work and the guild relate to the teachings and philosophy of Saint Francis.

The Altar with St. Francis, painted by Bonaventura Berlinghieri in 1235, is a Gothic panel painting originally created for the church of San Francesco in Pescia, Italy. The piece was made during the early period of Franciscan art, shortly after St. Francis of Assisi was canonized in 1228. The work is still in its original location, a Franciscan church built to honor the saint and serve the growing mendicant order.

The term "mendicant" refers to members of religious orders that adopt a lifestyle of poverty, traveling from place to place and living on charity rather than owning property. This approach is primarily associated with certain Christian orders founded in the Middle Ages, such as the Franciscans and Dominicans. These orders emphasize vows of poverty, preaching, and ministry in urban areas as part of their religious practice, contrasting with monastic orders that typically live in seclusion and sustain themselves through their own means like agriculture.

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Francis was a contemporary or at least recent example of a new way of seeing the world one in which an individual’s point of view and behavior was important.  Religious art, including altarpieces like this one, was meant to educate and influence Christians about religious figures and the values they were meant to follow. Francis was a little different than earlier figures because he felt that a person should live their life imitating how Jesus lived.  His basic ideas were that one should live a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience to God’s commandments.  By the time of St. Francis of Assisi, social and economic changes were affecting Catholic beliefs and practices. St. Francis played an important role in these changes, and this painting of him, along with the scenes from his life, reflects many of the ideas that were becoming more significant in the Renaissance.

In the center of the painting, St. Francis is depicted as a reformer of the Catholic Church. His haircut, known as a monk’s tonsure, was a common style for clergy members. This haircut, which involved shaving the top of the head while leaving a ring of hair around the sides, was meant to symbolize humility. It was considered a less attractive hairstyle, which may have been intentional, as monks and priests were expected to remain celibate.

St. Francis is also shown holding a book, similar to the libris mundi, or "book of the world," which often appears in Byzantine depictions of Jesus. He also has wounds on his hands and feet, known as the stigmata, which were believed to have been miraculously given to him by God as a sign of his religious devotion. The stigmata mirrored the wounds Christ received during the Crucifixion, and those who bore them were considered to be blessed.

One of the scenes in the altarpiece, located in the upper left corner, shows Francis receiving the stigmata from an angelic being known as a seraphim. Other scenes depict his acts of charity and devotion. One well-known episode is his sermon to the animals, where he expressed the idea that although animals do not have souls like humans, they are still part of God’s creation and should be treated with respect.

Throughout the altar, Francis is shown wearing a simple robe, barefoot, and tied with a rope belt that has three knots in it. This clothing represents the values of the Franciscan Order, the branch of Catholicism he founded. The three knots in the belt symbolize the order’s main principles: poverty, chastity, and obedience. His choice of simple clothing reflects his rejection of wealth and materialism.

Other scenes from the life of St. Francis are arranged on either side of him, almost like a series of panels from a comic book or graphic novel. These scenes highlight key moments in his life that led to his spiritual transformation.

Francis was born into a wealthy family but later abandoned his privileged lifestyle. He initially left home to fight in a crusade against those considered heretics and infidels. During this time, he was captured and held as a prisoner. While imprisoned, he experienced visions in which spiritual entities instructed him to "rebuild God’s house."

After his release, Francis gave away his cloak and other possessions. He also distributed many of his father’s belongings, following the example of charity and non-materialism taught by Jesus in the New Testament.

Following these events, Francis received permission to establish a new religious order within the Catholic Church, now known as the Franciscan Order. The order was based on poverty, chastity, and obedience, with an emphasis on living in a way that directly followed the example of Jesus.

This altarpiece combines elements of earlier artistic traditions with newer ideas that emerged during Francis’s time. His teachings emphasized that people should live and act in a way that directly followed the life and example of Jesus.

Francis’s teachings indicated that what a person did in their life and what they thought mattered in terms of their salvation.  This might have also been the results of some major economic changes and consequent social changes.  For the first time in hundreds of years, there was a little bit of social mobility.  A new class of people emerged, people who lived in towns and cities, were craftsmen, artisans, and merchants.  Before this there were only three groups, the nobles, the clergy, and the serfs: those who worked, those who prayed and those who fought.  Francis was born the son of a wealthy merchant, and this was probably one of the factors that influenced his life.  Artists were part of a relatively new classes of city people. 

 

Bonaventura Berlinghieri was a painter from Lucca, an important artistic center in medieval Tuscany. His work followed the Italo-Byzantine style, which was influenced by Byzantine iconography and the use of tempera on wood panels. The conditions of workshop production in the 13th century required artists to work with assistants, using pre-prepared wooden panels coated with gesso before applying paint. The materials used—gold leaf, mineral-based pigments, and egg tempera—were common in religious art of the time.

The Altar with St. Francis was commissioned by Franciscan patrons, probably local friars or benefactors who supported the order. Franciscan churches at the time emphasized simple architecture and devotional imagery in keeping with the order’s values of humility and service. The work was meant to be displayed above or behind the altar, making it visible to worshippers.

The painting remains in its original location, though over time, it has undergone preservation efforts to prevent deterioration. The panel has not been significantly altered, though like many medieval artworks, it may have lost some of its original pigment intensity due to age. It has not been relocated to another country, unlike some Italian religious art that was removed during periods of foreign occupation or sold to collectors.

Berlinghieri’s altarpiece was painted during a transitional period between the different styles of Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic  and the early Renaissance. This altarpiece reflects both the artistic traditions of earlier medieval painting and the gradual changes in style and thought that were emerging at the time.

Before 1300, altar paintings in Europe were heavily influenced by artistic traditions from the Byzantine Empire, which developed as early as the fourth century in regions such as Greece and modern-day Turkey. Many of the visual characteristics in Berlinghieri’s altarpiece reflect this influence.

The panel used for this altarpiece was likely made from recycled wood, possibly from older furniture or architectural panels that had already aged. Aged wood, sometimes referred to as petrified, was preferred because it contained less moisture, making it more stable and less likely to warp.

To prepare the panel for painting, it was coated with alternating layers of gesso, a glue-like substance made by boiling animal hide. This gesso acted as a binder, holding a layer of plaster and canvas onto the wood. The plaster, typically made from calcium carbonate, also known as marble dust, created a bright white, smooth surface that helped the paint adhere without unwanted chemical reactions.

The paint used on this altarpiece was egg tempera, a medium that consists of water, glue, and egg yolk or egg whites. This mixture binds pigment particles to the surface permanently. If you’ve ever tried to clean dried egg off a plate, you can understand why it was such an effective binder.

Pigments, or colorants, were often made by grinding minerals or semiprecious stones. Some colors were derived from plant-based dyes mixed with egg and glue to create a usable paint. Artists applied egg tempera in small strokes or hatch marks, layering it over time to build shading, tone, and depth.

Until around 1400, egg tempera was the most commonly used painting medium. By the early Renaissance, oil paint gradually became more popular, allowing for different techniques and a wider range of effects.

The size of this altarpiece is another important aspect of its design. It stands a little over five feet tall, making the central figure of St. Francis life-sized for the time. The composition is bilaterally symmetrical, meaning that St. Francis is positioned in the center with an equal number of scenes or images on either side, creating a balanced appearance. The image is further divided into three smaller narrative scenes on each side, where St. Francis appears repeatedly.

 

The figures in the painting are not depicted with realistic anatomy or lifelike movement. Their poses are rigid rather than naturalistic, unlike the contrapposto stance commonly used in ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. The proportions of the figures are slightly elongated, and the facial features are stylized rather than following the realistic proportions used in later Renaissance art.

The facial proportions in this painting follow a stylistic convention from the Byzantine tradition, sometimes referred to as maniera greca, or "the Greek manner." In this style, the eyes are positioned higher on the forehead, the nose is long and extends further down the face, and the mouth is placed closer to the chin. These characteristics are consistent throughout the figures in the altarpiece.

The illusion of space in the painting is not realistic. The sizes of the buildings and figures are not proportional to one another, and there is no attempt to create depth through a background with a horizon line, clouds, or changes in scale. Today, we are accustomed to linear perspective, which organizes space using parallel lines that converge at a vanishing point. However, linear perspective was not introduced until the early 1400s, so the buildings in this painting appear inconsistent in size and orientation. The figures seem to be arranged in a single row along the front of the picture plane, while the buildings and landscape elements, such as a small hill, do not follow a proportional relationship to the figures.

There is also no use of light and shadow to create volume in the figures or architecture. While there are some tonal variations, these do not mimic the natural effects of light and shading. This approach to rendering form remained common in European religious art until around 1400, when artists began developing more advanced techniques for depicting light and depth.

The background of the altarpiece, as well as the smaller narrative scenes on the sides, is covered in thin sheets of gold, which were applied with glue. These gold backgrounds are flat and uniform, without variation in tone or shading.

The stylization and visual conventions in this painting were part of a tradition that lasted nearly a thousand years, from the early Christian period through the 1300s. These artistic choices were not just aesthetic but also reflected religious concerns. When Christianity, particularly Catholicism, became more formally organized in the fourth century, there was debate over the use of religious imagery. The Second Commandment, which prohibits the worship of idols or graven images, raised questions about whether religious figures should be depicted in art. This debate, known as the iconoclastic controversy, led to periods where religious images were discouraged or even destroyed. Eventually, it was decided that creating icons and religious art was acceptable because these images served as teaching tools, rather than objects of worship.

As the Roman Catholic Church grew in influence, there was a greater demand for religious imagery. The artistic style known as maniera greca was chosen for religious paintings because it was not illusionistic like the naturalistic art of ancient Greece and Rome, which was associated with pagan traditions. This style may also have been preferred because its lack of realism made it less likely to be mistaken for actual people or objects.

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