Saint Francis of Assisi, tonsured and wearing the brown woollen habit of the monastic order he founded: fragmentary panel in a Life of St Francis fresco cycle painted circa 1380 by Sienese School artists Cristoforo di Bindoccio and Meo di Piero in the Chiesa di San Francesco or Church of St Francis at Pienza, Val d’Orcia, Tuscany, Italy.
Pienza, Val d’Orcia, Tuscany, Italy: Saint Francis of Assisi, as portrayed in an impressive fresco cycle by two Sienese School painters whose enduring artistic partnership left a legacy of jointly-signed artworks in many central Italian churches, monasteries and other places of worship. The tonsured saint wears the Franciscan monastic order’s brown woollen habit as he looks down and to his right in a fragmentary Late Gothic fresco in the apse chapel of the Chiesa di San Francesco (Church of St Francis) in Corso Rossellino. The damaged artwork, painted circa 1380 AD, is part of a Life of Saint Francis fresco cycle jointly attributed to the Sienese School painters Cristoforo di Bindoccio and Meo di Piero. Cristoforo di Bindoccio, also known as Maestro Bindoccio and Cristofano Malabarba or Malombra, is documented in Siena from 1361 to 1407. After working with Sienese artist Francesco di Vannuccio, he formed a fruitful partnership with Meo di Piero or Meo di Pero, who worked in Cristoforo’s studio and is documented from 1370 to 1407. Pienza stands in the Val d’Orcia between Montepulciano and Montalcino and was originally known as Corsignano. The Chiesa di San Francesco, with a gabled facade and Gothic portal, was built as part of a 13th century monastic complex. Corsignano was renamed after Renaissance humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini, born here in 1405, became Pope Pius II in 1458. Early in his reign, he changed the name to Pienza (city of Pius) and rebuilt it as an ideal Renaissance retreat from Rome, enhanced by new palaces and a cathedral. The design of Pienza, one of modern Europe’s first city planning projects, proved influential both in Italy and in other European urban centres. Pienza was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 and the Val d’Orcia is listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Landscape.
Size: 4115px × 2733px
Location: Pienza, Val d’Orcia, Tuscany, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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