LOT 0315

Cretan Icon of Saint Francis of Assisi

15TH CENTURY A.D.

7 7/8 in. (152 grams, 20 cm high).

An icon from a possible triptych of Veneto-Cretan School depicting nimbate Saint Francis of Assisi, wearing the brown habit of the Franciscan order, fitted with a hood, facing towards the right, a red book in his left hand with the inscription Vera S. Francisci effigies(true portrait of Saint Francis); mounted in a perspex display frame.

Property of a London lady, part of her family's collection.

Cf. Lymberopoulou, A., 'The Fogg Triptych: Testimony of a case study to the society and artistic production of Venetian Crete' in Lymberopoulou, A. (ed.), Cross-cultural interaction between Byzantium and the West, 1204-1669. Whose Mediterranean is it anyway? Society for the promotion of Byzantine Studies, Routledge, London, pp.59-73, fig.4.1.

With the conquest of Crete by the Venetians, Latin saints were introduced to Byzantine iconography. Saint Francis was one of the most beloved Latin saints among the Cretan faithful, depicted in the iconography of Cretan Orthodox churches, including the Panaghia Kera of Kritsa (13th-14th century A.D.). This figure was probably part of a triptych, having at the centre the image of the Mother of God with the Child, or a Desis. The placement of Francis in this icon would suggests the owner’s strong affiliation with the Franciscan order, which had a strong presence on Crete from the 13th century onwards. It was believed that Saint Francis himself stopped on the island on his way to the Holy Land in 1219.