This probing analysis of three works by Giotto and the patrons
who commissioned them goes far beyond the cliches of Giotto as the
founding figure of Western painting. It traces the interactions
between Franciscan friars and powerful bankers, illuminating the
complex interplay between mercantile wealth and the iconography of
poverty.
Political strife and religious faction lacerated
fourteenth-century Italy. Giotto s commissions are best understood
against the background of this social turmoil. They reflected the
demands of his patrons, the requirements of the Franciscan Order,
and the restlessly inventive genius of the painter. Julian Gardner
examines this important period of Giotto s path-breaking career
through works originally created for Franciscan churches:
"Stigmatization of Saint Francis" from San Francesco at Pisa, now
in the Louvre, the Bardi Chapel cycle of the "Life of St. Francis"
in Santa Croce at Florence, and the frescoes of the crossing vault
above the tomb of Saint Francis in the Lower Church of San
Francesco at Assisi.
These murals were executed during a twenty-year period when
internal tensions divided the friars themselves and when the Order
was confronted by a radical change of papal policy toward its
defining vow of poverty. The Order had amassed great wealth and
built ostentatious churches, alienating many Franciscans in the
process and incurring the hostility of other Orders. Many elements
in Giotto s frescoes, including references to St. Peter, Florentine
politics, and church architecture, were included to satisfy
patrons, redefine the figure of Francis, and celebrate the dominant
group within the Franciscan brotherhood.
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