Master of St. Clare

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As Master of St. (sacred) Klara ( it. Maestro di Santa Chiara ), the Italian early medieval painter called, which the panel painting depicting the Saint Clare in the Basilica of Santa Chiara painted in Assisi.

Naming and style

The name of the Master of St. Klara is unknown and he is given an emergency name after his picture. He was probably an Umbrian artist from the school of Cimabue . Attempts to ascribe the image to Cimabue himself have not caught on.

The panel of Clare

Eight scenes from her life are framed around the figure of the saint and founder of the order, the Poor Clares . The panel painting of Clare was based on an inscription around 1283, 30 years after Clare's death, and was created for the church that was built in 1265 as the church of the Holy Sepulcher for Clare. The picture of Clare can be found today in the transept of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher of St. Clare and is created in the style of Byzantine icon painting . For centuries it hung over the main altar of the church.

It is probably the oldest of the surviving panel paintings of the saints. Like a similar panel painting from 1270 by Guido di Graciano with a depiction of Francis and eight scenes from his life, the pictorial representation of the eight stations of Clare's life brought her life story closer to meditative contemplation of the pilgrims of the Middle Ages who were mostly unable to read. The icon panel of Clare can still be understood in research today as a historical access to her biography. It can be seen as an expression of a popular devotion which the founders of the mendicant orders like Francis and Clare were bestowed during their lifetime and immediately afterwards.

Other Maestri di Santa Chiara

The Master of St. Klara (Maestro di Santa Chira), the painter of the panel painting of the saints, is to be distinguished from the expressionist master of Santa Chiara (Maestro espressionista di Santa Chiara), who also worked at the end of the 13th century , of the frescoes in the style of Giotto in the Church of the saints made in Assisi; He is also to be distinguished from the master of St. Clara of Montfaucon (Maestro di Santa Chiara da Montefalco), the painter of frescoes in a church of Santa Chira in Montefalco in Umbria, consecrated to St. Clare of Montefalco around 1300.

literature

  • B. Kümmerling: St. Clare on a panel in Assisi . In: FUSA Journal for connoisseurs and lovers of art - literature - music - issue 5 (1981)
  • L. Lehmann: Clare of Assisi. A new way of life . Werl 1993
  • N. Kuster: Klara's panel in Assisi: for the composition of the first pictorial life story of the holy sister . In: Collectanea Franciscana, 73.2003,1 / 2, pp. 17-46
  • M. Kreidler-Kos, N. Kuster: The table icon of Clara of Assisi, a new image of holiness . In: Science and Wisdom - Franciscan Studies in Theology, Philosophy and History. Vol. 67 Issue 1 (2004), p. 3ff.
  • K. Zimmermanns: Umbria - Dumont Art Guide . Ostfildern 2010

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ for example K. Zimmermanns: Umbria - Dumont art travel guide . Ostfildern 2010, "Assisi"
  2. ^ For example N. Muscat OFM: The Basilica of St. Claire . In: Spiritu e Hajja. Journal of Franciscan Culture 83 (2008), p. 15ff. (Online edition)
  3. ↑ Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale
  4. ^ K. Zimmermanns: Umbria - Dumont art travel guide . Ostfildern 2010
personal data
SURNAME Master of St. Clare
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Master of St. Clare; Maestro di Santa Chiara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian painter
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: before 1283
DATE OF DEATH 13th century or 14th century