The Stigmatisation of Saint Francis

The moment the attribute is given

Francis of Assisi is identified by the stigmata — wounds corresponding to those of the crucified Christ. Most pictures show him already bearing them. This title names the earlier instant: the stigmatisation itself, the act of receiving. In the tradition the marks arrive from a winged figure in the sky, and painters render the transfer as rays running from that figure to the saint's hands, feet and side. It is one of the rare subjects in which an attribute is shown being installed rather than worn.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates this panel to 1444 and gives the National Gallery in London as its location. The dimensions are 44 x 37 cm, very small. It is filed under religious cultural heritage and Fantasy, with Early Renaissance as the style and Italian as the nationality; the measured colour family is ochre.

A small panel from a larger logic

A panel of this size, dated to the mid-fifteenth century and indexed as narrative rather than portraiture, belongs to a familiar type: the small scene, one episode per panel, built to be read in sequence with others. The record does not say what this one accompanied, and no sequence is claimed here. What the measurement establishes is the scale of attention the picture expects — close, and one episode at a time.