. Legends of the monastic orders : as represented in the fine arts. ead, so as to assist the reader to dis-criminate the merit, as well as to comprehend the significanceof the representation. But even a classification is here difficult. I shall beo-inwith those subjects which must be considered as strictly de-votional. They are of two kinds :— I. The figures which representself) St* Francis standing either aloneor in a Sacra Conversazione; or enthroned, as the Padre Serafico,the patron saint and founder ofhis Seraphic Order. II. Th ose which represent himin prayer or meditation as thedevout so
. Legends of the monastic orders : as represented in the fine arts. ead, so as to assist the reader to dis-criminate the merit, as well as to comprehend the significanceof the representation. But even a classification is here difficult. I shall beo-inwith those subjects which must be considered as strictly de-votional. They are of two kinds :— I. The figures which representself) St* Francis standing either aloneor in a Sacra Conversazione; or enthroned, as the Padre Serafico,the patron saint and founder ofhis Seraphic Order. II. Th ose which represent himin prayer or meditation as thedevout solitary, the pattern ofascetics and penitents. The earliest known representa-tion of St. Francis has almost thevalue and authenticity of a por-trait. It was painted by GiuntaPisano a few years after the deathof the saint, and under the direc-tions of those who had known himduring his life: it is a small full-length, in the sacristy of hischurch at Assisi; which when Iwas there, hung high over a doorwith a curtain drawn before it,rather, as it seemed, to preserve. 46 St. Fiaucis. (Giunta Pisano.) 24S LEGENDS OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS. than to conceal it. He is standing—a long meagre figure-long out of all proportion,—wearing the grey habit and thecord; holding a cross in his right hand, and in the leftthe Gospel: the face is small; the forehead broad ; the fea-tures delicate and regular; the beard black, thin, and short;the expression mild and melancholy. Another very ancientfio-ure, with the hood drawn over the head, and in the handa scroll, on which is written Pax hide, exists at Subiaco, andis supposed to have existed there since the time of GregoryIX. (the same Cardinal Ugolini who was the friend of , and Protector of the Order). A third, by Mar-garitone di Arezzo, also with the hood drawn over the head,the Gospel in one hand, the other raised in benediction, isstill preserved in the Church of Sargiano near Arezzo. The character of head in these effigies is nearl
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