Italian Art Trip to Assisi, Italy

If you are a traveler of the spirit, you will remember Assisi as devoted to the gentle St. Francis; if you are more captured by material substance, you will remember the delicate pink and white stones of this graceful Umbrian hill-town. Traveling to Assisi requires a car or bus, and you will be joined by the many faithful who congregate here to pray to St. Francis and his disciple, St. Claire. Francis was born into a wealthy merchant family in Assisi during the late twelfth-century, but he renounced his riches, dedicating his life to the poor and preaching his love for all of God's created creatures. So great was his devotion to Christ's teachings that he received the holy stigmata, or bleeding nail wounds, on his hands and feet during a prayer vigil in the wilderness in 1224. Francis died in Assisi in 1226, and was canonized as a saint two years later.

Assisi is dominated by the great, two-storey Basilica of San Francesco, built into the slopes of Monte Subasio. Decoration of the church attracted renowned painters from Italy , including Cimabue, Giotto, Pietro Lorenzetti (brother of Ambrogio), and Simone Martini. The frescoes of the Upper Church were partially damaged during an earthquake in 1997. Many of the greatest paintings, however, are not found above, but illuminate the Lower Church . So descend to the Chapel of St. Martin, executed by Simone Martini around the year 1317.

Simone Martini, Chapel of St. Martin, Lower Church of San Francesco

The chapel glows with jewel-like color in the darkness of the Lower Church. This effect is created not only by Simone's paintings -- executed in fresco with liberal use of applied gold leaf -- but also by the material richness of the architectural decoration. Three great stained-glass windows illuminate the chapel, which is also adorned by colonnettes of rose-colored marble, gilded leaf capitals, and a vault painted blue with gold stars. St. Martin, as St. Francis, was one who cast away his worldly goods (note the first scene of the narrative cycle in which he tears his garment to clothe a tattered beggar) -- but Simone was an artist in the Sienese tradition. This means that there is a linear elegance, a lingering over fine textiles, and a taste for gold that characterizes his paintings, whatever their subject matter.

The narrative cycle includes ten scenes from the saint's life, beginning left of the entrance with the Division of the Cloak. Next comes the Dream , in which Christ reveals to Martin that it was he, disguised as a beggar, who was clothed by his generosity. The narrative proceeds with the Knighting of St. Martin, one of the highlights of the chapel. Before surrendering to his Christian calling (although already sporting a halo) Martin was a soldier in the Roman army. Here he receives his sword from Emperor Julian -- identifiable by a crown of laurel -- and a servant straps spurs onto Martin's delicate feet. Although this event was supposed to have taken place in the mid fourth-century, Simone paints a scene more resembling a fourteenth-century court in Italy. Note the variety of patterned fabrics, and musicians playing pipes and various instruments of song.

Next to this scene of knighting, Martin renounces his arms and insists on facing the enemy with only the sign of a cross (they surrendered). Other miracles follow, confirming Martin's saintliness: he raises a beloved child from the dead, and burns the throne of the Roman emperor with holy fire. In the next scene, Martin celebrates Mass. He had earlier given his undergarment to a poor man, and his had been hastily replaced by one too short at the arms. As he lifts the Host heavenwards, two angels descend to clothe his naked wrists in a jeweled cloth. Note how Simone dwells on the material details of the altar: the layered tasseled cloths, the gold chalice of wine.

Finally come three scenes recounting Martin's death. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, sleeps in his throne, but later announced he had been delivering the funeral rites for Martin in heaven. Martin is next shown lying on a bed of ashes, an allusion to his poverty -- although Simone has garbed him in an embroidered robe of gold! A black winged devil escapes from the holy scene, and a choir of angels assemble in song and prayer. Finally, Martin's funeral is shown taking place in a chapel not unlike the one in which you, the traveler, stand. Note the Gothic pointed arch windows with delicate tracery moldings, and the blue vault decorated with stars. Simone has painted a vision of the saint's life lived as a man of a courtly Italian world -- casting away his riches, but clothed in holy gold all the same.