Pictorial Invention in the Early Trecento: The Case of the Vele in Assisi

Fascinating online lecture from Birkbeck College looking at the symbolism of the vaults in the lower church of St Francis in Assisi.

John Renner took us though the four faults over St Francis’s tomb possibly by Giotto linking their allegorical narrative with the theology of the Franciscan order at the time. He took us though the imagery in some detail and pointed out that the three vaults on the vows of the order all followed the same pictorial template.

I love this sort of detailed analysis of images and wish we had had longer on them. Looking again as I write this I find myself looking at sections he didn’t describe and wondering what they mean. Oh dear, another place to add to the post lockdown list!

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