Shaping The Saint

Basilica of St. Francisco, located in Assis, Italy, was founded in the early1200s. Thepaintings in series for the life story of St. Francisco going to church were created during1297and1299of the late middle ages, when the image features and functions underwent greatchanges. This paper, with the paintings in series for the life story of St. Francisco as main studiedobject, attempts to analyze and manipulate the text source and image tradition of image structure,as well as studies the contents of the frescoes by way of image-text interpretation, comparativeanalysis, etc. Based on the predecessor’s painting tradition, the painter of St. Francisco Frescoes,according to the biographic text, has simulated the nature and re-presented the28independentscenes that have finally developed a unique and unified style. The unique manifestation mode ofthe scenes comes into existence under the influence of multiple complicated factors such asinternal evolvement and external conditions of image tradition. In the late middle ages, narrativeimage is of certain religious functions. The application of image by the congregation has not onlyexpanded the influence of congregation on the masses but also enhanced the influence on thecongregation itself. With biography and image tradition as two mainlines, this paper analyzes thecomplicated causes of formation for St. Francisco images as well as expounds the subjects, stylesand tradition of image in detail. These images with complex structure have not only interpretedand created the image of St. Francisco, but also expressed the deep congregation concept andimage meaning and uncovered the ultimate goal that Basilica shapes the image of St. Francisco.