Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), painter, architect, and writer, was fascinated with the image of Saint Francis because of the association of La Verna with Arezzo, his native town, where the miraculous event of Saint Fra...Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), painter, architect, and writer, was fascinated with the image of Saint Francis because of the association of La Verna with Arezzo, his native town, where the miraculous event of Saint Francis's stigmatization occurred in 1224. Also in Arezzo, in the church of San Francesco, the beautiful frescoes of Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross were commissioned by his wife's ancestors, the Bacci family. This study discusses Vasari's two types of religious representation of Saint Francis. One type is devotional, as in the paintings of Holy Families, e.g., The Holy Family with Saint Francis of 1541, at the County Museum of Art of Los Angeles, CA. The other is historical, focusing on the miraculous moment of the stigmatization, e.g., Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, 1548, in the church of San Francesco in Rimini. Employing mannerist colors to express the spirituality of the event, Vasari created a new conception of piety, where sobriety and humbleness are honored. These paintings reveal the humanness and sanctity of the protagonist, Saint Francis, devoid of any heroic glamour.展开更多
文摘Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), painter, architect, and writer, was fascinated with the image of Saint Francis because of the association of La Verna with Arezzo, his native town, where the miraculous event of Saint Francis's stigmatization occurred in 1224. Also in Arezzo, in the church of San Francesco, the beautiful frescoes of Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross were commissioned by his wife's ancestors, the Bacci family. This study discusses Vasari's two types of religious representation of Saint Francis. One type is devotional, as in the paintings of Holy Families, e.g., The Holy Family with Saint Francis of 1541, at the County Museum of Art of Los Angeles, CA. The other is historical, focusing on the miraculous moment of the stigmatization, e.g., Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, 1548, in the church of San Francesco in Rimini. Employing mannerist colors to express the spirituality of the event, Vasari created a new conception of piety, where sobriety and humbleness are honored. These paintings reveal the humanness and sanctity of the protagonist, Saint Francis, devoid of any heroic glamour.