Bowl Depicting Saint Francis Receiving Stigmata (1531): Art, History and Details

Bowl Depicting Saint Francis Receiving Stigmata (1531) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In this depiction representing his closeness to Christ, Saint Francis receives the stigmata through strikes of light from a vision of the risen Lord hovering as an angel in front of the basilica at Assisi. This bowl likely recalls a panel painting produced by the Italian master painter Giotto around 1300.

Object facts

• Title: Bowl Depicting Saint Francis Receiving Stigmata
• Date: 1531
• Culture: Italy, Deruta, 16th century
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
• Dimensions: Diameter: 41.3 cm (16 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1988.95

A detail from the museum

According to Christian tradition, the stigmata correspond to the appearance of Christ’s wounds at similar places on the faithful following his crucifixion.

Collection credit

Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• “The Year in Review for 1988.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 2 (February 1989): 30–75. Published as Maiolica Bowl with St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.