Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert

Giovanni Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert has inspired generations of visitors to The Frick Collection. Commissioned around 1475–80 by the Venetian nobleman Giovanni Michiel—probably as a devotional piece for either a private chapel or display in a palazzo—St. Francis in the Desert later entered the collection of the prominent aristocrat Taddeo Contarini. Purchased by Henry Clay Frick in 1915, it has hung in his mansion (now The Frick Collection) most of the last century.

One of the most beloved works in the Frick’s collection, St. Francis in the Desert is widely considered the most important Renaissance painting in America. The monumental panel portrays Francis of Assisi, the medieval Christian saint who renounced earthly riches for a humble existence of poverty, prayer, and obedience to the gospels. Bellini depicts Francis alone in a mountainous wilderness, stepping forward from his simple shelter into a golden light that seems to transfigure him spiritually. For centuries, viewers have puzzled over the work’s meaning—seeking explanations in a variety of pictorial and textual sources.