Saint Agnes of Assisi

 

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This fresco of St. Agnes of Assisi is most likely one of the vele (vault) frescoes in the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Assisi, attributed to the anonymous Maestro Espressionista di Santa Chiara, a Giottesque painter active in the 14th century and often tentatively identified as Palmerino di Guido. The fresco corresponds to a series of female saints painted in the four vaulted sails above the basilica’s crossing, where St. Agnes is traditionally depicted—frequently with a lamb as her attribute. The basilica’s own guide describes these works as creations of “a great Giottesque master,” underscoring both their stylistic refinement and their devotional significance within the Franciscan tradition.

Art historical scholarship and regional guides consistently associate these vault frescoes with the Maestro Espressionista, though the precise authorship remains debated. Some scholars propose Palmerino di Guido, an artist documented in Assisi, as a plausible identity for the master, while acknowledging the lack of definitive archival proof. High-resolution comparisons available through the Basilica’s website and Wikimedia Commons reveal matching iconography, compositional structure, and placement within the vault, all of which reinforce the likelihood that the fresco of St. Agnes in your image belongs to this celebrated yet anonymous painter’s oeuvre.

Get 3 restored images of Saint Agnes (including the one on this post), now on sale

This image is a public domain image, which means either that copyright has expired in the image or the copyright holder has waived their copyright. Franciscan Gallery charges for the access to high resolution copy of the image. Manually restoration was necessary in order to improve quality, without covering the original image.