Spiritual Franciscanism and the 'Vele' Frescoes of San Francesco, Assisi
| dc.contributor.author | Pritchard, June Anne | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-15T17:18:07Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-15T17:18:07Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 1979 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 1979 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of History in Art | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Art History and Visual Studies | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts M.A. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines t he theological origins of the 'Vele' frescoes in the Lower Church of San Francesco, Assisi. Three of the 'Vele' depict allegorically the Franciscan vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience; the fourth, St. Francis in Glory. Located above the altar, and hence over the tomb of St. Francis, they adorn the most sacred place in the Franciscan community. It is striking, therefore, that the treatment of these themes follows the interpretations of a dissident faction of the Order, the Spiritual Franciscans, rather than those of the orthodox Conventuals, who controlled the basilica. The Spirituals advocated the primacy of the vow of Poverty and criticized the materialism of the Church and of the Conventuals, reinforcing their convictions with Joachimite Apocalyptic prophecies. The Order and the papacy responded by driving the Spirituals underground. Therefore the existence in San Francesco of a fresco cycle that promotes ideas inimical to the established Church poses a problem, one that this study attempts to resolve. The thesis has two objectives: to establish the Spiritual orientation of the frescoes, and to account for their location and survival in the Lower Church. The first is accomplished through iconographic analysis and examination of Spiritual Franciscan ideology; the second, through a study of the circumstances surrounding the commissioning of the cycle, in particular the identification of the sponsor, with a determination of his religious affinities and his relations with various ecclesiastical and secular powers. Robert of Anjou, king of Naples, is seen as the most probable sponsor of the works. A lifelong supporter of the Spirituals, and the principal secular figure in Italy, Robert was the only apparent individual with both the motivation to introduce a heterodox work into the church and the power to compel its acceptance by the Conventuals. The frescoes are viewed as an expression of both his Spiritual sympathies, and opposition to papal policies, the latter stemming from his break with the papacy in 1328. The Conventuals' acceptance of a cycle which reproved their abandonment of Absolute Poverty is explained in terms of the allegorical nature of the programme; the inherent ambiguity permitted the Conventuals to overlook the intent of the works, and thus avoid the appearance of a public capitulation on a central controversy of their time. For his part, the king could forestall the concerted opposition to the programme that a more unambiguous criticism might have provoked (and also keep intact his vital alliance with Tuscan bankers, many of whom sided with the Conventuals in the dispute over Evangelical Poverty). The survival of the frescoes after Robert's death is attributed to the Conventuals' unwillingness to antagonize his pro-Spiritual successor, Joanna I, to the gradual transformation of the Church's attitude towards Apostolic Poverty and Joachimite interpretation of the Apocalypse. | en_US |
| dc.format.extent | 196 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/19368 | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | en_US |
| dc.title | Spiritual Franciscanism and the 'Vele' Frescoes of San Francesco, Assisi | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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