Master of Saint Francis

Umbrian, active third quarter 13th century

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A bearded, light-skinned man is shown striding to our left and looking in that direction between two columns supporting an arch in this vertical painting. The area around the man, within the arch, is bright gold. The man has a high forehead with short, brown hair, dark eyes under dark brows, a long, straight nose, a forked beard, and his pink lips are closed. He wears a marine-blue, ankle-length cloak over a long, rose-pink robe. Folds are painted with lines of darker blue and pink. He clenches a parchment-colored scroll in his left hand, on our right, down by his hip and grasps the edge of his cloak with his other hand. His head is surrounded by a halo created by incising and punching the gold background. The shoulder-wide halo is decorated with S-shaped spirals and a ring of simple, delicate flowers around the perimeter. He stands on a dark gray floor that meets the gold background just below knee level. The columns to either side are cut off by the edges of the panel, and are brick-red with light blue, leafy capitals. The brown arch supported by the columns is inscribed, “SANCTUS JACOB LEPHI Q COGNOMINAT E IU.” The corners above are maroon red, and rough, disk-shaped areas in each corner could indicate losses.
Master of Saint Francis, Saint James Minor, c. 1272, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.15

Saint James Minor

Master of Saint Francis · c. 1272 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.15

A man with light skin with a greenish cast, wearing a slate-blue robe draped over a burgundy-red, ankle-length tunic, stands under an arched opening against a glimmering gold background in this vertical painting. The man’s body faces us but he turns his head to our right and looks off in that direction with dark eyes under curving, dark brows. Like his skin, his white hair and beard has a greenish cast, but is painted with long, curving white lines to indicate the flow of hair. He has a high forehead, a long, thin nose, and his small pink lips are closed. His left arm, on our right, is wrapped in or hidden by his robe, and he holds a parchment-colored scroll in front of his chest with his other hand. His clothing is painted with lines to indicate folds. He wears sandals with thin, mahogany-brown straps on his feet and stands on a pine-green floor. His head is surrounded by a halo created by incising and punching the gold background behind the man. The shoulder-wide halo is decorated with S-shaped spirals and a ring of simple, delicate flowers around the perimeter. The arch above the man is supported by maroon-red columns topped by cobalt-blue, leafy capitals. The corners above the arch are maroon red, and rough, disk-shaped areas in each corner could indicate losses. A web of cracks stretches across the gold areas. Writing along the arch reads, “SANCTVS I HANES SSUM.”
Master of Saint Francis, Saint John the Evangelist, c. 1272, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.16

Saint John the Evangelist

Master of Saint Francis · c. 1272 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.16

Bibliography

1885

  • Thode, Henry. Franz von Assisi und die Anfänge der Kunst der Renaissance in Italien. Berlin, 1885: 86-87, 219-221.

1919

  • Marle, Raimond van. “Il Maestro di San Francesco.” Rassegna d’arte antica e moderna anno 6, v. 1 (1919): 9-21.

1949

  • Garrison, Edward B. Italian Romanesque Panel Painting: an Illustrated Index. Florence, 1949: 27-28.

1963

  • Schultze, Jürgen. “Zur Kunst des ‘Franziskusmeisters’.” Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 25 (1963): 109-150.

1982

  • Cannon, Joanna. “Dating the Frescoes by the Maestro di San Francesco at Assisi.” The Burlington Magazine 124 (1982): 65-69.

1986

  • Lunghi, Elvio. "Maestro di San Francesco." In La Pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 2:624-625.

1989

  • Toscano, Bruno. "Maestro di San Francesco." In Dizionario della pittura e dei pittori. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo and Bruno Toscano. 6 vols. Turin, 1989-1994: 3(1992):412-413.

1991

  • Romano, Serena. “Maestro di S. Francesco.” In Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale. Edited by Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana. 12 vols. Rome, 1991-2002: 8(1997):116-119.

1994

  • Romano, Serena. “Maestro di San Francesco.” In Dipinti, sculture e ceramiche della Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria: studi e restauri. Edited by Caterina Bon Valsassina and Vittoria Garibaldi. 1st ed. Florence, 1994: 58-60.

2002

  • Giorgi, Silvia. "Maestro di San Francesco." In La pittura in Europa. Il Dizionario dei pittori. Edited by Carlo Pirovano. 3 vols. Milan, 2002: 2:548-549.

2016

  • Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 286-287.