Sassetti Chapel, 1482-1486 (fresco)

Sassetti Chapel (Cappella Sassetti), by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1482-1486, 15th Century, fresco Whole artwork view. The left wall shows two episodes of the life of St. Francis, the renunciation of worldly goods, placed in the bezel at the top, and the miracle of the stigmata, at the bottom; the scene above represents the young Francis, publicly stripped of his garments, protected by the bishop Guido of Perugia, while behind him his father looks at him angrily, held by a man; other characters crowd the scene without taking part in the action; in the background, a northern city identified with Geneva or Lyon, where the client Francesco Sassetti had served for the Medici; in the scene below is represented St. Francis in the middle, kneeling with open arms, to receive the divine stigmata from the Crucifix placed in heaven in a cloud, surrounded by seraphs; in the background the fortress of La Verna, where the miracle happened, and on the right a city near a lake Domenico Ghirlandaio Church of Santa Trinita