The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

St. Francis Kneeling before Christ on the Cross

1437–1444

Sassetta

(Italian, 1392–1450)
Italy, 15th century
tempera and gold on wood
Framed: 91 x 46.5 x 4.5 cm (35 13/16 x 18 5/16 x 1 3/4 in.); Unframed: 81 x 40.2 cm (31 7/8 x 15 13/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1962.36
Location: 100 1916 Lobby

Description

Because of his simplicity, piety, and devotion to all living creatures, Saint Francis (1181–1226) has remained among the most revered and popular saints. Born to wealthy parents in Assisi, he first lived a life of spendthrift luxury. However, Francis later gave up all worldly goods and embraced an existence of utter poverty. Throughout his adult life, the saint experienced mystical trances and visions of Christ. Atop the cross here is a leafy tree and a nest of pelicans. Fifteenth-century viewers would have recognized the tree as a reference to the cross, which is often described as a tree, symbolizing Christ's role as the source of eternal life. The pelican, shown nourishing its young with its own blood, symbolizes Christ, who sacrifices himself for the salvation of mankind. This painting was the center pinnacle on the back of a double-sided altarpiece made for the church of San Francesco in Borgo Sansepolcro (near Arezzo).
  • S. Francesco, Borgo Sansepolcro (broken up c. 1578); Prince Johann Georg of Saxony (by 1936); Gerhard Freiherr von Preuschen, Stuttgart (1950); (P. Drey, New York)
  • Bauch, Kurt. "Christus am Kreuz und der beilige Franziskus." In Eine Gabe Der Freunde Für Carl Georg Heise Zum 28. VI. 1950, Erich Meyer, ed., 103-112. [Berlin]: [Gebr. Mann], 1950. Reproduced: p. 104
    Gronau, H.D. "Early Italian Paintings at Stuttgart." The Burlington Magazine 92, no. 572 (November 1950): 321-323, 325. Mentioned: p. 322; Reproduced: p. 323, pl. 22 www.jstor.org
    Carli, Enzo. "Sassetta's Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece." The Burlington Magazine 93, no. 578 (May 1951): 145-152. Mentioned: p. 147, 151 www.jstor.org
    Carli, Enzo. La Pittura Senese. Milano: Electa Editrice, 1955. Mentioned: p. 196
    L. K. "Zurigo: Bellezza Sconosciuta." Emporium CXXIV, no. 740 (August 1956): 85-89. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 85
    Carli, Enzo. Sassetta e il Maestro dell'Osservanza. Milano: Aldo Martello Editore, 1957. Mentioned: p. 56
    National Gallery (Great Britain), and Martin Davies. The Earlier Italian Schools. 2d ed., rev. London: Publications Dept., National Gallery, 1961. Mentioned: p. 511, n. 24
    Berenson, Bernard, Nicky Mariano, and Villa I Tatti. La Raccolta Berenson. Edited by Franco Russoli. Milano: Officine grafiche Ricordi, 1962. Mentioned: pl. XL
    Francis, Henry. "Sassetta: Crucifixion wtih St. Francis." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 3 (March 1963): 46-49. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 47-48 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 58 archive.org
    De Fernandez-Gimenez, Elizabeth Ourusoff. “Giovanni Di Paolo: The Life of St. Catherine of Siena.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 4 (April 1967): 103–110. Mentioned: p. 103 www.jstor.org
    Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places: Central Italian and North Italian Schools. London: Phaidon, 1968. Mentioned: p. 384, Vol. I
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 58 archive.org
    Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972. Mentioned: p. 183, 397, 574
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 1. European Paintings before 1500. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Reproduced: fig. 43, p. 121 - 124
    Os, H. W. van. “St. Francis of Assisi as a Second Christ in Early Italian Painting.” Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art 7, no. 3 (1974): 115–132. Mentioned and re[produced: p. 126-127, fig. 16 doi.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 66 archive.org
    Braham, Allan. “Reconstructing Sassetta’s Sansepolcro Altar-Piece.” The Burlington Magazine 120, no. 903 (1978): 386–392. Mentioned: p. 386, n. 6 www.jstor.org
    Ressort, Claudie, Sylvie M. Béguin, and Musée du Louvre Département des peintures. Retables Italiens Du XIIIe Au XVe Siècle: Catalogue. Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1978. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 32-33
    Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), and John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy. The Robert Lehman Collection. New York, Princeton: The Museum; Princeton University Press, 1987. Mentioned: p. 102-104, Vol. I; Reproduced: p. 293, fig. 31, Vol. I
    Garstang, Donald, and P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Gothic to Renaissance: European Painting, 1300-1600. London: Colnaghi, 1988. Mentioned: p. 46; Reproduced: p. 49
    Clément, Christophe, Musée du Louvre, and Réunion des Musées Nationaux. Polyptyques: Le Tableau Multiple Du Moyen Âge Au Vingtième Siècle: Musée Du Louvre, Paris, 27 Mars-23 Juillet 1990. Paris: Ministère de la Culture, de la Communications, des Grands Travaux et du Bicentenaire, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1990. Mentioned: p. 80; Reproduced: p. 85, fig. 3
    Banker, James R. “The Program for the Sassetta Altarpiece in the Church of S. Francesco in Borgo S. Sepolcro.” I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 4 (1991): 11–58. Mentioned: p. 30-32, 45, nn. 52, 56, 66; Reproduced: figs. 22, 33, 34 doi.org
    Gardner von Teuffel, Christa. "Niccolo di Segna, Sassetta, Piero della Francesca and Perugino: Cult and Continuity at Sansepolcro." Stadel-Jahrbuch 17 (1999): 163-208. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 176, fig. 26
    Gordon, Dillian, and National Gallery (Great Britain). The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings. London: National Gallery, 2001. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 352-354, fig. 12
    National Gallery of Art (U.S.), and Miklós. Boskovits. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. Washington, New York: National Gallery of Art ; Distributed by Oxford University Press, 2003. Mentioned: p. 621
    Gardner von Teuffel, Christa. From Duccio’s Maestà to Raphael’s Transfiguration: Italian Altarpieces and Their Settings. London: Pindar Press, 2005. Mentioned: p. 417; Reproduced: p. 447, fig. 26
    Israels, Machtelt. "Sansetta, St. Augustine, 1439-1444." In Entre Tradition et Modernité: Peinture Italienne Des XIVe et XVe SièCles = from Gothic Tradition to the Renaissance: Italian Painting from the 14th and 15th Centuries, 174-184.Paris: G. Sarti, 2008. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 179-180, fig. 1
    Israëls, Machtelt. Sassetta: The Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece. Florence, Leiden: Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies ; Primavera Press, 2009. Reproduced: p. 162-164, figs. 110, 112-115, Vol. I; Mentioned: p. 194-197, Vol. I; Reproduced: p. 204-209, pl. I, III, V, Vol. I; Mentioned: p. 220, Vol. I; Mentioned and reproduced: p. 247-248, fig. 203, Vol. I; Mentioned and reproduced: p. 534-537, fig. 21.1, 21.2, 21.4-21.7, Vol. II
    Fliegel, Stephen N. The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination. Cleveland, Ohio, Munich: Cleveland Museum of Art; DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2013. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 110-111, no. 15
  • The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-June 2, 2013).
    Fliegel, Stephen N. The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination. Published on the occasion of the exhibition "The Caporali Missal: A Masterpiece of Renaissance Illumination" held 17 Feb to 2 June 2013 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, imprint of Prestel Publishing, 2013. Cat 15, pg 110-1.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (02/17/2013 - 06/02/2013): "Caporali"
    Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).
    Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).
  • {{cite web|title=St. Francis Kneeling before Christ on the Cross|url=false|author=Sassetta|year=1437–1444|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.36