At a Glance
- Exhibition
- In a New Light: Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert
- Dates
- May 22, 2011 to August 28, 2011
- Museum
- The Frick Collection
1 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021
- Listing type
- Past Exhibitions
- Description
One of the most familiar and beloved paintings at The Frick Collection, Giovanni Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert (c. 1480), is also deeply enigmatic. The artist has imagined this medieval saint alone in a stony wilderness, stepping forward from his simple shelter into a golden light that seems to transfigure him spiritually. For centuries, viewers of this masterpiece have puzzled over the meaning of Bellini’s composition and have sought explanations in a variety of pictorial and textual sources.
