St Francis of Assisi

Judging from the size, the frontal composition and the gilding only on the front, this sculpture once probably stood in a deep niche on an altar. The quality of the carving, the rather accurate proportions, but the slightly rough and general form, suggest that the artist’s workshop was somewhere in the provinces, perhaps in Žemaitija. Although the style of the carving is restrained, the figure and the face are sombre, and the expression is intense. The sculpture can be identified as a Franciscan by the robe tied round the waist and knotted three times, the tonsure on the scalp, and the Rosary in his lowered hand. It could therefore represent St Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), the founder of the Franciscan Order. There was once probably a crucifix in his demonstratively outstretched hand. He is usually portrayed in 17th-century works with a small beard, holding a cross in one hand and a book or a Rosary in the other. Images of St Francis were made popular in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by the order itself, who referred to themselves humbly as the ‘Friars Minor’, and in particular by the Observant branch (of a stricter rule) of the Bernardines, who by the 17th century already had several friaries in the country.

Text author Dalia Vasiliūnienė

Judging from the size, the frontal composition and the gilding only on the front, this sculpture once probably stood in a deep niche on an altar. The quality of the carving, the rather accurate proportions, but the slightly rough and general form, suggest that the artist’s workshop was somewhere in the provinces, perhaps in Žemaitija. Although the style of the carving is restrained, the figure and the face are sombre, and the expression is intense. The sculpture can be identified as a Franciscan by the robe tied round the waist and knotted three times, the tonsure on the scalp, and the Rosary in his lowered hand. It could therefore represent St Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), the founder of the Franciscan Order. There was once probably a crucifix in his demonstratively outstretched hand. He is usually portrayed in 17th-century works with a small beard, holding a cross in one hand and a book or a Rosary in the other. Images of St Francis were made popular in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by the order itself, who referred to themselves humbly as the ‘Friars Minor’, and in particular by the Observant branch (of a stricter rule) of the Bernardines, who by the 17th century already had several friaries in the country.

Text author Dalia Vasiliūnienė