St. Francis in the Desert
Dublin Core
Title
Description
In this painting, we see Saint Francis in the Desert after receiving stigmata, the crucifixion wounds of Jesus. Giovanni Bellini pulls the focus onto the details of the landscape in multiple ways. First, with regards to the composition of the image, Bellini scatters objects of religious and Franciscan significance throughout the painting, not giving anything for viewers to focus on and thus forcing to consider the image in its entirety to discover the meaning behind the painting. Second, he uses a variety of warm-toned pastels in the painting aside from the blue sky in the background, which creates a uniform feel to the painting and does not add specific contrast for a viewer’s eye to be drawn to. In addition, Bellini adds multiple sources of light, both in the back of the painting and on the saint’s face, which is very different from the normal beam of light that either emanates from or shines on central figures in most religious painting and moves the focus away from the saint himself to include the rest of the painting. Finally, Giovanni Bellini adds more texture in the foreground as compared to the background of the painting, which increases the viewer’s focus on the foreground and the objects in the foreground; however, there is not any particularly textured area in the foreground, diffusing the focus throughout the foreground.
Now, the question becomes why would Bellini want to make the entire landscape the focus of the painting rather than Saint Francis himself? First, the painting contains lots of details that have meaning in Franciscan and religious literature; for example, the water trickling from a spot out of the stones would easily evoke to any viewers at the time comparison to the miraculous fountain brought forth from the rocks at Horeb by Moses and reminding them of the enduring miracles of the Lord [1]. Tiny details like these are scattered throughout the painting, and Bellini would want to bring attention to them, so the viewer would be able to understand the enhanced meaning of the painting. In addition, because the art was meant to be hanging in a palace, Keith Christiansen believes that the conspicuous location played into the lack of focus in the painting, forcing viewers to focus on the details of the painting and meditate on its meaning [2]. This meditation is especially important for this painting of Saint Francis as Fransiscans have the pivotal role of leadership, renewal, and prophetic purification within the church; thus, any depiction of Francis is a statement of and about the church [3]. The inclusion of the many important symbols necessitated the lack of a clear focus on the central figure as it left room for the viewer to individually understand what the meaning of the painting was, playing into the idea of personal interpretations of religion and religious art that became increasingly popular with the advent of the Renaissance.
[1] Art in The Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996).
[2] Keith Christiansen, "Bellini and the Meditational "poesia" in Artibus Et Historiae 34, no. 67 (Poland: IRSA, 2013): 9-20.
[3] John V. Fleming, From Bonaventure to Bellini: An Essay in Franciscan Exegesis, (United States: Princeton University Press, 2017), 160.
Creator
Source
Christiansen, Keith. "Bellini and the Meditational "poesia"." Artibus Et Historiae 34, no. 67 (2013): 9-20. Accessed November 10, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23510240.
Art in The Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.
Fleming, John V.. From Bonaventure to Bellini: An Essay in Franciscan Exegesis. United States: Princeton University Press, 2017. 160.
Publisher
Date
Contributor
Rights
Format
Type
Coverage
Files
