A bear and a deer drink peacefully together, watched by an owl. Detail from Late medieval or Early Renaissance fresco, probably painted by Bartolo di Fredi (), influential member of the Sienese School. In a church dedicated to St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the natural world, the Chiesa di San Francesco, at Lucignano, Tuscany, Italy.
Lucignano, Val di Chiana, Tuscany, Italy: watched by an owl and calmed by the influence of St. Francis of Assisi, a bear peacefully shares a drinking trough with a deer, in this fragmentary detail from a damaged fresco painted in a church dedicated to Saint Francis, patron saint of animals and the natural world. The Stigmata of St. Francis fresco in the Chiesa di San Francesco occupies the upper part of a wall frescoed in the 14th and 15th centuries by Bartolo di Fredi (c. 1330-1410) and Taddeo di Bartolo (c. 1363-1422). They were both born in Siena, about 30 miles from Lucignano, and became influential members of the Sienese School of artists. Their surviving artworks can be found in many Tuscan churches and monasteries. St. Francis, Italy’s patron saint, was a Roman Catholic friar, deacon and preacher who founded the Franciscan monastic order and was canonized in 1228, two years after his death. Francis believed that Nature was the mirror of God. He was said to have called all creatures his brothers and sisters, to have blessed wild animals and even to have preached to birds. This detail of one of the Lucignano frescoes depicting scenes from the saint’s life was probably painted by Bartolo di Fredi. It bears witness to centuries of decay and discolouration, but it escaped the serious damage suffered by frescoes further down the wall when 17th century builders inserted a doorway and an altar. They obliterated areas of an Adoration of the Magi fresco attributed to Taddeo di Bartolo. The damage may have been accidental, as by the 1600s, most of the frescoes in the church had vanished under layers of plaster and whitewash. They were rediscovered in the 19th century when the plaster was removed. Careful work to restore them lasted until 1985.
Size: 4204px × 2797px
Location: Chiesa di San Francesco, Lucignano, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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