Bernardo Strozzi, Saint Francis in Prayer, c. 1620/1630, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Joseph F. McCrindle
Works from the late 15th to the mid 18th century of St. Francis of Assisi (1181/1182-1226), the stigmata, and the beginnings of the monastery at La Verna, Italy will be on view at the National Gallery of Art through Sunday, July 8, 2018.
The exhibition celebrates the stigmatization of St. Francis which he received when he went up to the mountain of La Verna for a 40-day fast in the wilderness. One morning while there, he was visited by an angel who bore the wounds in his hands, feet, and side of Jesus Christ when he was crucified. When the angel departed, St. Francis discovered that he, too, was marked with the wounds.
St. Francis is the first known person in Christian history to become a stigmatic which happened two years before he died in 1226. A 1935 study of St. Francis's medical records revealed he may have suffered from trachoma and quartan malaria which would have partially explained his bleeding and pain, according to Wikipedia. A 1987 hypothesis posited St. Francis suffered from leprosy.
Whatever the case, the works at the National Gallery are astonishing to behold in the flesh and blood, and viewers are grateful for the opportunity.
Jacopo Ligozzi and Domenico Falcini, The Chapel of the Cardinal [plate G], in Fra Lino Moroni, Descrizione del Sacro Monte della Vernia (Florence,
1612), engraving with an engraved overslip of a rock revealing stairs
when lifted, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Acquisition funded by a
grant from The B.H. Breslauer Foundation, 2013, 2013
German 15th Century, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata,
1500/1510, woodcut, hand-colored in green, yellow, indian red, and
blue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald Collection,
1943
Italian 15th Century, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata,
1470/1480, woodcut, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald Collection,
1943
Note the differences between the German and the Italian versions of the Stigmata (above), both from the 15th century.
On view also are two first-edition copies owned by the National Gallery of the 1612 Descrizione del Sacro Monte della Vernia.
In notes, the Gallery calls St. Francis's experience at La Verna, " a critical event in Western spirituality and proved to be the effective birth of modern monasticism." La Verna still operates as as monastery today.
Johan Baptist Enzensberger, The Stigmatization of Saint Francis,
1760s, pen and brown ink with gray wash over graphite on laid paper,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection,
Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2007
Sebastiano Ricci, The Ecstacy of Saint Francis,
1706/1720, pen and brown ink and brown wash on laid paper, National
Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mrs. Rudolf J. Heinemann, in Honor
of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.
Jean-Jacques de Boissieu, Desert Monks (after Francisco de Zurbaran), 1797, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2000
Leading a tour of Heavenly Earth is the curator of the exhibition, Ginger Hammer, assistant curator in the department of old master prints, National Gallery of Art.
What: Heavenly Earth: Images of St. Francis at La Verna
When: The National Gallery of Art is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday. The exhibition closes Sunday, July 8, 2018.
Where: West Building, the National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.
Admission charge: It's always free at the National Gallery of Art.
Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives or L'Enfant Plaza
For more information: 202-737-4215
patricialesli@gmail.com
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