The earliest Italian painting in the Lehman Collection, this panel formed part of one of the greatest Italian altarpieces of the third quarter of the thirteenth century. The double-sided altarpiece was probably commissioned for the main altar of the church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia. This panel—with Saint Francis, Saint James and Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Matthew, and Saint Peter—formed the left side of one face of the main altarpiece; the right side of the other face depicted Isaiah, and the Deposition, the Lamentation, and Saint Anthony. The altarpiece was displayed above an early Christian sarcophagus containing the body of Saint Francis's follower, the Beato Egidio (ca. 1261). The painted arches and the disposition of the figures in the altarpiece panels echoes the sculpted reliefs of the sarcophagus. The Master of Saint Francis was also responsible for another highly significant Franciscan commission: a fresco cycle in the nave of the Lower Church of San Francesco at Assisi.
Medium: Tempera on wood, gold ground. Dimensions: 18 3/4 x 9 in. (47.6 x 22.9 cm).
Source: metmuseum.org
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