The Image of St Francis: Responses to Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century
Cambridge University Press, 11/30/2006
EAN 9780521782913, ISBN10: 0521782910
Hardcover, 540 pages, 25.1 x 19.5 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
An important new study of the way in which St Francis's image was recorded in literature, documents, architecture and art. St Francis was a man whose personality was deliberately stamped on his Order and Rosalind Brooke explores how the stories told by Francis's companions were at once brilliantly vivid portrayals of the man as well as guides to how the Franciscan way of life ought to be led. She also examines how after St Francis's death a great monument was erected to him in the Basilica at Assisi and how this came to reflect in stone and stained glass and fresco the manner in which some Popes and leading friars believed his memory should be fostered. Highly illustrated throughout, including colour and black and white plates, this book will be essential reading for medievalists and art historians as well as anyone interested in St Francis and the Franciscan movement.
1. Introduction
The soft wax
Dawn?
2. The image in life
The image Francis sought to present
The impression Francis made on contemporaries
3. The image after death
The early official image in writing
Elias' letter
The papal bull of Canonisation
Thomas of Celano's First Life of St Francis
4. The official image in stone - the Basilica of St Francis at Assisi
I. The creation of the Basilica
The achievement of brother Elias
Progress of the building and its date
Furnishing the Basilica
II. The inspiration of the Basilica
Gregory IX
Innocent IV
Sources of inspiration
The functions of the double church
Conclusion - the image
5. The authority of St Francis
expositions of the rule
The Exposition of the Four Masters
Hugh of Digne
The bull Ordinem vestrum
The sources and characteristics of Hugh's Exposition of the Rule
The bull Exiit qui seminat
6. Reminiscences
the convergence of unofficial and official images in writing
The writings of Leo, Rufino, and Angelo
The image of St Francis as presented by Leo, Rufino and Angelo
The anonymous of Perugia
Thomas of Celano's Second Life of St Francis
The Legend of the Three Companions
The sources of the Legend of the Three Companions and its date
The image of St Francis presented by the Legend of the Three Companions
The Sacrum Commercium
7. Visual images
The Pescia altar panel
The Pisa altar panel
The Assisi altar panel
The Bardi altar panel
Matthew Paris
Kalenderhane Camii
8. The official image in speech and writing
Sermons
St Bonaventure
The Legenda Maior of St Bonaventure
The Miracles of St Francis
9. The official visual image
the decoration of the Basilica
Introduction
The decoration of the Lower Church
The decoration of the Upper Church
The stained glass windows in the Upper Church
The decoration of apse and transepts
The north transept
Cimabue
The Four Evangelists
The decoration of the sanctuary walls
The decoration of the nave of the Upper Church
The St Francis cycle
Dating the decoration of the nave
Nicholas IV
10. The rediscovery of St Francis's body
Excavations
Reconstruction of St Francis's interment
11. Epilogue
Angela of Foligno's image of St Francis.
' … superb, beautifully illustrated and altogether peerless …what deserves to rank as one of the classic texts of Franciscan scholarship, not just of the twenty-first but to any other century.' Tablet
'For those interested in the multiple roles of visual imagery in creating, disseminating, and sustaining attitudes or ideas within a society, this is a fascinating book. … For the specialist in Franciscan studies, The Image of St Francis is a goldmine, a tremendously impressive collection of material, presented with consummate scholarship, and many will be grateful for Brooke’s efforts.' Visual Resources