Scenes from the Life of Christ and Saint Francis: The Stigmatization of Saint Francis

The friars of Santa Croce, the Franciscan church in Florence, gathered in its sacristy, which doubled as their chapter house. Around 1335 to 1338 Taddeo Gaddi painted 28 small panels for the back of the long bench there, which still stands in the room. They ran in two rows, the life of Christ above and the life of Saint Francis below, meant to be read side by side. Francis's first biographers, Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure, had already described him as another Christ. This scene, the Stigmatization, was paired with the Crucifixion, at the centre of the whole scheme. Gaddi followed Giotto's fresco of the subject at Assisi, with thin gold rays running from the winged seraph to the kneeling saint. After the convent was suppressed in 1810 the panels were taken down. Most came to the Accademia, and two each are now in to Berlin and Munich.