The Thirteeth Century "Lives" of St. Francis of Assisi

FAIN: FV-50178-08

SUNY Research Foundation, College at Geneseo (Geneseo, NY 14454-1401)
William Cook (Project Director: March 2008 to March 2010)

A six-week summer seminar, convening in Siena and Assisi, Italy, for fifteen school teachers to study the life, works, and representations of St. Francis of Assisi.

For six weeks, we shall study several versions of the life of St. Francis of Assisi that were written and painted in the 13th century. The texts will be three 13th century lives of Francis that had official status in the Order--the two versions by Thomas of Celano and the Leganda Maior of Bonaventure. The narrative paintings are now in Pescia, Pistoia, Florence, Siena, and Assisi. For three weeks, the seminar will meet in Siena and then move to Assisi where Francis lived and died. We will usually meet four times per week and will visit all of the paintings listed above. Each participant will create a written project and present a version to the group. For projects focusing on a particular work, on site presentations will be arranged.