St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1430): Art, History and Details

St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1430) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Bicci di Lorenzo (Italian, 1373–1452).

The work and its context

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

Although born into a wealthy merchant family, St. Francis (1181-1226) rejected all wordly goods, dedicating himself to chastity, humility, and selfless acts of kindness. By the time of his death, the order of friars he founded had expanded throughout Europe. In the summer of 1224, Francis visited a mountain retreat at La Verna near Assisi. After weeks of intense prayer, an angel on a cross appeared. The painter shows mystical rays of light emanating from the angel and leaving Francis with stigmata, wounds resembling those Christ suffered at the time of his crucifixion. Behind the saint, a follower throws up his hands in amazement. This predella panel, which was mounted in a row of related scenes below a larger painting, retains its original frame.

Object facts

• Title: St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata
• Date: c. 1430
• Creator attribution: Bicci di Lorenzo (Italian, 1373–1452)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Painting
• Technique: tempera and gold on wood
• Dimensions: Framed: 21.7 x 32 cm (8 9/16 x 12 5/8 in.); Unframed: 17.9 x 27 cm (7 1/16 x 10 5/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Medieval Art
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1916.787

Collection credit

Holden Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Rubinstein-Bloch, Stella. Catalogue of a Collection of Paintings, Etc. Presented by Mrs. Liberty E. Holden to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1917.
• Francis, Henry S. “Sassetta: Crucifixion with St. Francis.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 3 (March 1963): 46–49.
• “Gothic Art 1360-1440.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 7 (September 1963): 174–215.

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.