Apparition of St Francis at Arles

This painting was part of the predella which belonged to a triptych of the Madonna and Child with Four Saints (known as the Compagnia di San Francesco Altarpiece), commissioned for the convent of Santa Croce in Florence 1429. The five predella panels depicting scenes from the life of St Francis of Assisi are the following:

1. Trial by Fire (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

2. Receiving the Stigmata (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome)

3. Meeting of St Francis and St Dominic (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

4. Apparition of St Francis at Arles (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

5. Lamentation over St Francis (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)

Among the predella panels, the Apparition of St Francis at Arles is especially remarkable for its deep architectural setting, its luminary effects and its atmospheric perspective.