Trial by Fire: the Iconography of St. Francis of Assisi's Visit to Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt in Italian Franciscan Narrative Cycles, 1245-1485 (2007)

Undergraduate: Alexandra Dodson

Faculty Advisor: Mary Pardo
Department: Art

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Immediately following the death of St. Francis of Assisi in 1226, his followers set out to preserve his memory via literary and visual narratives chronicling the events of his life. Traditional Franciscan scholarship has centered on determining the authorship of these narratives, but in recent years, attention has turned to the significance of individual scenes. In this thesis, I trace the iconographic development of one scene ?the Trial by Fire before the Sultan, illustrating Francis? trip to Egypt in 1219, during which he preached the gospel of Christianity to the Muslim sultan. I examine ten visual representations of this scene from both monumental and small-scale cycles, exploring the reasoning behind its introduction into the Franciscan narrative canon and its continued presence there. In doing so, I consider literary sources, patronage, artists? exposure to existing cycles, and current events within the Franciscan Order and the Catholic Church. I argue that the Trial by Fire appears in cycles as a scene of compromise, reconciling fractious branches of the Franciscan Order, which debate the degree to which they should uphold Francis? principle of living in poverty as mendicants. The image of Francis before the sultan simultaneously represents his intentions for the friars to preach, to promulgate peace among all people?Christian or otherwise?and to live humbly, without earthly possessions. As a manifestation of these ideals, this scene maintains a consistent relevance from the years soon after Francis? death until those just before the ultimate division of the Order.