Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430 - 1516)
St. Francis in the Desert, 1480
oil and tempera on poplar panel
49 in. x 55 7/8 in. (124.46 cm x 141.92 cm)
Henry Clay Frick Bequest.
Accession number: 1915.1.03
Courtesy the Frick Collection
December 7, 2006
Thoughts from the sketchbook of John Wellington
One painting that resides in NYC that I am drawn to time and again is Giovanni Bellini's St. Francis in Ecstasy (currently named St. Francis in the Desert). It lives at The Frick Museum on 5th Avenue and for almost 30 years I have stood in front of this large panel in awe.
What has drawn me to this work? Why have I considered it a masterpiece?
Is it because I am an admirer of St. Francis? Or Monks in brown robes? Is it because I understand the symbolism in this painting? That the shepherd leading his flock of sheep from shadow to light in the far distance is Christ. That the small bunny peering out of a stone hole refers to temptation. That the tree bending inward on the upper left corner represents Moses' burning bush. Is the subject the reason why I have been so drawn to this painting for so many years?
No.
I am drawn to this painting not because of my devotion to St. Francis, but because of Bellini's devotion to St. Francis. St. Francis receiving stigmata is not a subject that personally interests me, but that it so deeply interested Bellini is what makes this a powerful painting. The subject is a conduit to pass the devotion that he felt more than five hundred years ago to me now in the present. The importance of the subject may have faded, but his devotion in the act of painting remains powerful and timeless.
So many people today look for art that is "cutting edge". I look for art that is devotional and singular to the artist's inner spirit. That is always, in the end, "cutting edge".
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