St.Francis of Assisi Receiving Stigmata

Without a technical knowledge of perspective or anatomy, Giotto indicates space and, in the seated monk particularly, weight. Giotto fully explores the transmission of human emotions beyond the rhetoric of gesture, which inspired other Renaissance artists. Giotto left behind the rigid stylization of medieval art and broke new ground in terms of realism. In his fresco painting we can see an impetus, which developed during the Renaissance into a lasting tradition.

This work shows Francis having an apparition of an angel with six wings and a crucified figure. After the vision, his hands and feet received the stigmata—the marks of Christ’s crucifixion. In Giotto’s rendition of the scene, rays from the vision fall onto Francis’s hands and feet. The rocky landscape glows with the light of revelation.

This fresco is in  the upper church of St. Francis Basilica, Assisi, Italy.