The Joy of St. Francis: Giovanni Bellini’s Panel of San Francesco del Deserto

The commission for Giovanni Bellini’s painting of St. Francis in the Frick Collection coincided with developments of the Franciscan Observant movement in the Veneto in general, and, in particular, with the refurbishing of the Franciscan convent in the Venetian lagoon on the island of San Francesco del Deserto. My work places the painting in this historical religious context in order to establish the meaning of its exceptional qualities of form and content. Often called a “Stigmatization of St...