The Art of the Franciscan Order in Italy

423 Pages·2005·14.346 MB·English

by  William R. Cook

THE ART OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDER IN ITALY
THE MEDIEVAL
FRANCISCANS
GENERAL EDITOR
Steven J. McMichael
University of St. Thomas
VOLUME 1
THE ART OF THE
FRANCISCAN ORDER
IN ITALY
EDITED BY
WILLIAM R. COOK
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2005
On the cover: illustration from the xvth century manuscript of Bonaventure’s Legenda Maiorin
the Museo Francescano, Rome. © Museo Francescano.
Brill Academic Publishers has done its best to establish rights to use of the materials printed
herein. Should any other party feel that its rights have been infringed we would be glad to
take up contact with them.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The art of the Franciscan Order in Italy / edited by William R. Cook.
p. cm. — (The medieval Franciscans, ISSN 1572-6991 ; v. 1)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13167-1 (alk. paper)
1. Franciscan art—Italy. 2. Christian art and symbolism—Italy—Medieval, 500-1500.
I. Cook, William R. (William Robert), 1943- II. Series.
N7952.A1A84 2005
704.9’4863—dc22
2004062919
ISSN 1572–6991
ISBN 90 04 13167 1
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CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................ vi
William R. Cook
List of Illustrations .................................................................... xiii
Notes on Contributors .............................................................. xxi
‘In loco tutissimo et firmissimo’: The Tomb of St. Francis
in History, Legend and Art .................................................. 1
Donal Cooper
The Pilgrim’s Progress: Reinterpreting the Trecento Fresco
Programme in the Lower Church at Assisi ........................ 39
Janet Robson
Prophecy in Stone: The Exterior Facade of the Basilica of
St. Francis in Assisi ................................................................ 71
Daniel T. Michaels
Cimabue at Assisi: The Virgin, the ‘Song of Songs’, and the
Gift of Love ............................................................................ 95
Marilyn Aronberg Lavin
The Date of the St Francis Cycle in the Upper Church of
San Francesco at Assisi: The Evidence of Copies and
Considerations of Method .................................................... 113
Thomas de Wesselow
The Beholder as Witness: The ‘Crib at Greccio’ from the
Upper Church of San Francesco, Assisi and Franciscan
Influence on Late Medieval Art in Italy ............................ 169
Beth A. Mulvaney
‘ISpeak not yet of Proof’: Dante and the Art of Assisi ........ 189
Ronald B. Herzman
The Representation of Posthumous Miracles of St Francis of
Assisi in Thirteenth-Century Italian Painting ...................... 211
Gregory W. Ahlquist and William R. Cook
Cooperation and Conflict: Stained Glass in the Bardi
Chapel of Santa Croce .......................................................... 257
Nancy M. Thompson
vi contents
Index of Names and Places ...................................................... 279
Subject Index .............................................................................. 291
Index of Modern Scholars ........................................................ 295
INTRODUCTION
William R. Cook
The greatest joy of editing this volume is to have assembled the
work of several important senior scholars and essays of young peo-
ple beginning their careers. I sought out scholars from both sides of
the Atlantic; hence there is work here that represents somewhat
different scholarly traditions. The essays presented here are the work
of historians, art historians, a historian of theology, and a literary
scholar. As a result, the art of the Franciscan order is examined
from a number of perspectives. Essays focus on panel paintings, fres-
coes, stained glass, sculpture, and architecture. The result is, I believe,
the most significant volume on Franciscan art in decades and per-
haps the most important ever in the English language.
According to Thomas of Celano, “in beautiful things, [Francis]
saw beauty itself.” This is a good way to think about the art dis-
cussed in this volume’s essays. The works of art that are studied here
are far more than “pretty pictures,” the way they are often thought
of today by students and travelers alike. We need always to keep in
mind that they were created to elevate the viewer to an under-
standing and experience of a reality beyond the material world.
Francis himself experienced such an epiphany while gazing at a
painted crucifix in the crumbling church of San Damiano, just outside
the walls of Assisi. As he prayed before this painting, by tradition
the one now preserved at Santa Chiara in Assisi, Francis experi-
enced God’s call to “rebuild his church,” a call Francis understood
literally long before he perceived a larger meaning to that message.
Despite Francis’ own experience at San Damiano, there have been
many followers of Francis, from the thirteenth century until the pre-
sent, who have argued that the art created for the Franciscan Order
beginning shortly after Francis’ death is a scandal to the poverty and
simplicity of the Order’s founder. After all, the argument goes, would
Francis have approved of the sorts of buildings for which the pan-
els and frescoes were created, let alone those decorations that were
so expensive and “gaudy”? Many have answered ‘no’ to this ques-
tion. They cite Francis’ attempted demolition of buildings in Assisi
viii william r. cook
and Bologna. There is also a famous story about one of Francis’
earliest brothers, Giles. He came into Assisi during the construction
of the Basilica of San Francesco, the saint’s burial church, and was
horrified. He approached a brother and asked him where the friars
kept their women. After some confusion about the meaning of the
question, Giles responded that since it was clear that the friars had
abandoned both poverty and obedience, he assumed that they had
abandoned chastity too!
When people say that Francis would have been the first to tear
down the Basilica in which he is buried, they ignore some evidence
from the earliest sources for his life. Francis was a man who cared
greatly about the cleanliness of churches because they contained the
body and blood of Christ, and he believed that these churches should
glorify God, not merely house “church functions.” Clare and her
sisters made altar cloths, and apparently Francis had no problem
with beautiful fabrics in churches.
However, it is even more important to consider that Francis
nowhere objected to the shrines of saints. He himself venerated saints,
principally the Virgin Mary, and doubtless saw numerous images of
her in churches. We must always keep in mind that the Basilica in
Assisi is not essentially the glorification of a humble fellow from Assisi
but rather of Saint Francis. After Francis’ canonization in 1228, his
status changed dramatically in the Church. We should not presume
to be sure we know how the sinner of Assisi would regard the Basilica
of Saint Francis.
It is clear that the art produced to honor and tell the story of
Francis has had great impact on those who have seen it. There is
the famous vision of Angela of Foligno in 1291 before a window in
the Upper Church in Assisi. But even today, when millions of tourists
(I use this word rather than pilgrims purposely) pass through the
Basilica in Assisi and hear about Giotto and Simone Martini as much
as about Francis, there is no doubt that Francis “seeps into the souls”
of some of them. It was in the summer of 1973 that I came to Assisi
for a few days as a tourist to see the art. While there, I bought a
copy of Bonaventure’s Legenda Maior in English and re-read it, since
I had failed to understand it when reading it for a graduate course
several years before. I believe that it was the art more than the text
that led me to reconsider Francis. As a medieval historian, I of course
had taken Francis seriously as a man who greatly influenced the
course of the history of Europe. However, I had not taken him seri-
introduction ix
ously as someone who had much to say to me or to modern times.
I may have arrived in Assisi as a tourist, but I left a pilgrim. Since
that time, I have been studying the early art of the Franciscan Order.
We also should think about numbers. How many people know
something about St Francis from reading and how many primarily
from images? From the thirteenth century till now, I would argue
that the great majority of people who have encountered Francis have
done so through images—images ranging from the frescoes in Assisi
to statues in squares and back yards to the St Francis, Brother of the
Universe comic book to Zeffirelli’s film Brother Sun, Sister Moon. One
wonders what the ratio is today between people who have read the
Legenda Maior or any other biography of Francis and the number of
people who have seen the frescoes of the Upper Church in Assisi
either in person or in reproductions.
Because of the centrality of the art in the Basilica of San Francesco
in Assisi to the history of Franciscan art, or for that matter European
art, most of the essays in this volume have their focus there.
Two examine the Lower Church. Donal Cooper reconstructs
Francis’ tomb. Using archaeological and art historical evidence and
bringing to bear the arrangements of the tombs of other Italian
Franciscan saints, Cooper offers a comprehensive and convincing
reconstruction of the tomb that will be the starting point for dis-
cussions of it for years to come. Janet Robson takes up a question
so vital for our understanding of the Basilica that it is hard to under-
stand why it has been so infrequently asked. How would pilgrims
have visited the Lower Church, the object of their pilgrimage to the
shrine of St Francis? She imaginatively and convincingly reconstructs
the pilgrims’ visit to the shrine. In doing so, she gives us a new way
of examining the complex pictorial program of the Lower Church.
She puts aside the much written about stylistic approach to the fres-
coes in the transept of the Lower Church (left, Sienese; right, Florentine)
and focuses our attention on how the art around the altar of the
Lower Church presents a program for the pilgrim to finish his/her
journey to venerate St Francis.
Daniel Michaels introduces us to the Upper Church in a new
way. Instead of examining the frescoes and windows, he examines
the facade and how it introduces themes that will be taken up inside
the church. Once again, we are being called to take seriously some-
thing little written about. When most scholars think of the Basilica,
they first consider frescoes and then stained glass and architecture.