The museum’s permanent collection also has an Italian sculpture of the Franciscan order’s coat of arms made of glazed terracotta and dating back to about 1525. The piece by Luca della Robbia the Younger depicts the right arm of Christ with the nail wound in His hand and the left arm of St. Francis with the stigmata wound in his hand and has a cross in the background on a shield. All of this is encircled with a wreath with grapes, fish and other biblical symbols of Christ’s life and sacrifice. The coat of arms is often depicted on the altar in sanctuaries of Franciscan churches or is engraved in plaques that represent the Franciscan order in institutions worldwide. It’s also incorporated into Bishop Martin’s episcopal coat of arms.
St. Francis also appears in another piece at the museum. This time in Giotto’s “Peruzzi Altarpiece,” so-called because the wealthy Peruzzi family commissioned the work, which is dated 1310-1315. Made with tempera and gilded gesso on poplar panel, it is one of the few remaining altarpieces by Giotto and the only one preserved outside of Europe. Like the altarpiece recently completed for St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly, this work is a polyptych – a painting with more than three panels. Giotto used vermilion, a bright red pigment, to communicate the importance of Jesus. The altarpiece was made for the family’s private chapel in the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence. The artist, Giotto di Bondone, is considered the father of the Italian Renaissance. In the painting, Christ is offering a blessing alongside St. John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist and St. Francis. Enjoy this rare piece and the rest of the museum’s religious collection, which includes additional paintings of angels, the Holy Family and other saints.