St Francis Preaching to the Birds

St Francis Preaching to the Birds dates to around 1297-99 and was one of Giotto’s largest, at 270 cm by 200 cm.

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

The fresco was produced for the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy, as part of a series of paintings that Giotto placed within this stunning venue. The composition for St Francis Preaching to the Birds is relatively simple, featuring two figures alongside some birds and trees.

Composition

The beauty in this piece is perhaps the charming content, where man and bird connect together for a brief moment. There is also some wonderful work by the artist around the detail on the trees, particularly the larger one to the right hand side which enjoys a healthy glow and abundance of leaves and color.

The background is separated into two clear vertical sections using two strong tones of color. The lower half is in a darker blue which allows the lightly toned birds to appear clearer. The upper section then represents the sky, and is in a light blue.

Symbolism

One of the figures looks on with a hand raised, whilst another, presumably St Francis, bends over to preach directly to the birds. Most are perched on the ground, listening intently, whilst several others swoop in to find out what is going on.

Saint Francis is also indicated by the golden halo which surrounds his head, whilst his colleague does not have the same, but is hooded instead. Giotto loved to display the divine using his golden halos and often they would help us to determine the identity of different figures within his paintings.

Clearly, this was an obvious choice for Giotto to cover due to the connection of the basilica to St Francis himself. Most of Giotto’s career was devoted to religious art, purely because this was requested by his donors and at that time in European art history, most artists were not given quite the same freedom of creativity that they might enjoy today.

The Story of St Francis Preaching to the Birds

Saint Francis was from the 13th century and many stories exist of how he would preach to birds. This would inspire birdbaths with his image on them, as well as many paintings which followed in a similar manner to Giotto’s.

The story behind his preaching is that St Francis wanted the birds to exclaim the beauty of God and to praise him relentlessly to others. His response from them was for the birds to open their wings and listen intently, with others swooping down to join in and listen.

Conclusion

Giotto’s St Francis Preaching to the Birds is a memorable piece from the late 13th century which displays the sensitive nature of this artist’s work. This remains one of the simpler compositions from his career, when normally he would work in many different figures.

The fresco helps to remind us of his contributions to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, which are sometimes overlooked in favor of his other projects, such as in the Scrovegni Chapel. Stylistically, there are many similarities between the two, with his work managing to work seamlessly from one project to the next, with a clear signature style which was innovative and also highly regarded.

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