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Notes
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In a vaulted green hall, Pope Honorious III blesses Saint Francis of Assisi, watched by assembled cardinals and various others. This is the third of a series of eight panels depicting episodes from Saint Francis’s life. They were part of a sumptuous double-sided altarpiece Sassetta made for the friars of Borgo San Sepolcro, which was completed in 1444. The back showed Saint Francis in Glory surrounded by these narrative scenes, seven of which are in the National Gallery’s collection. According to the scripta, the written instructions setting out the subject matter for the altarpiece, this scene shows Pope Honorious III granting Francis the Indulgence of the Portiuncula in 1216. The friars at San Sepolcro may have requested this episode because they believed, wrongly, that Ranieri Rasini, a local holy man who was buried below the altar at San Sepolcro, was a witness to this event.
Title
Saint Francis before the Pope: The Granting of the Indulgence of the Portiuncula
Date
1437-44
Medium
Egg tempera on poplar
Measurements
H 88.4 x W 52 cm
Accession number
NG4759
Acquisition method
Bought with contributions from The Art Fund, Benjamin Guinness and Lord Bearsted, 1934.
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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