Artwork at the porciuncula chapel

August 02, 2018

Artwork at the porciuncula chapel

Marvellous artwork at the main altar of the Portiuncula Church in Assisi. This beautiful church is within the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, very close to Assisi, Umbria.

This tiny church is exquisitely decorated by artists from different periods. On the façade, above the entrance outside, is a fresco by Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1829), depicting St Francis receiving from Christ and the Virgin the indulgence, known as the “Pardon of Assisi”. The German painter Overbeck was a member of the Nazarene movement, a group of painters who aimed to revive honesty and spirituality in Christian art. At the base of this fresco is a small rectangular fresco beneath which are the Latin words Haec est porta vitae aeternae ("This is the gate to eternal life").

The outside wall to the right of the entrance shows fragments of two frescoes by unknown Umbrian artists. In the 19th century a door was opened in the same wall, to control the flow of pilgrims. The left outside wall includes the tombstone of Pietro Cattani, who died on 10 March 1221. (St Francis was still alive at the time of his death). At the back, above the entrance, is the fresco Crucifixion by Perugino, painted around 1485. It was badly damaged during the construction of the basilica. The 15th century door is decorated with floral motifs. On top of the Porziuncola stands a small Gothic belfry.

The interior is austere and simple. Some of the rough, squared stones, taken from Mount Subasio, were put in place by the saint himself while repairing this little church. It is decorated in a simple Gothic style with frescoes from the 14th and the 15th century. But the masterpiece is the six-part fresco in the apse of this little church, painted by the priest Ilario da Viterbo (1393):

The Annunciation (middle)
St Francis Throws Himself into the Thorny Brambles (right)
St Francis Accompanied by Two Angels (right)
Apparition of Christ and the Virgin, Accompanied by 60 Angels, with St Francis Offering Roses (top)
St Francis imploring pope Honorius III the Confirmation of the Indulgence (left)
St Francis Promulgates the Indulgence, Accompanied by the Bishops of Umbria (left)

The pavement on the floor is now restored to its original appearance by the restorations following the earthquake of 1997.