Stage 1 (Piran)

Corpus » Church of St Francis of Assisi

Interactive drawing

Art-historical analysis

On the southern wall, a fragment of a mural, unknown to the public, was probably uncovered around 1987.[1] The mural is currently covered with a plasterboard, on which the oil painting Arrival of the Holy Spirit from the former altar of the same name used to hang.[2] For the purposes of this digital corpus, the plasterboard was removed, the fresco was documented and measured, samples were taken for technical analysis, and then the plasterboard was reinstalled. As far as we can see from the current state of preservation, the fresco depicts two standing or kneeling figures in the foreground, while it is not entirely clear what the element in the left-hand corner of the mural might represent (it could be part of the architecture). The fresco was surrounded by a border consisting of a red and white line, still visible at the lower edge.

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[1] See Mira LIČEN, Frančiškanski samostan Piran. Poročilo po obdelanih sondah, Piran 19. 9. 1975.
[2] Three photographs showing the fresco are kept in the archives of the Minorite Monastery in Piran, while the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Piran regional unit, does not keep any documentary or photographic materials from the time when the fresco was uncovered. The only photograph from that time was published by ŠAMPERL 2002, p. 57. After the temporary removal of the plasterboard for the purposes of the present digital corpus, new photographs were taken.

Very poor.

14th-century Italian painting (?).

Unclear. Based on the visible elements, the fresco could have been painted as early as the 14th century, but it is also possible that it is much more recent.

On 3 June 1348, the Florentine banker Francesco Benzini from Piran wrote in his will, among other things, that images of saints should be painted in the Church of St Francis for a sum of up to twenty soldi grossi.[1] Benzini’s testament cannot be linked with any certainty to the fresco on the southern wall of the nave, as we do not even know whether his request was carried out and, if so, when. Furthermore, several votive paintings probably existed in the medieval Church of St Francis.[2]

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[1] Janez PERŠIČ, Florentinec Franciscus Benzini, bankir v Piranu (1338–1348), Kronika. Časopis za slovensko krajevno zgodovino, 23, 1975, p. 145; cf. DE FRANCESCHI 1940; ALISI s. a., p. 50; SARTORI 1986, p. 1275; Antonio ALISI, Cronologia piranese 5, La voce di San Giorgio, 44, 1987, p. 6. About the painters working in Piran in the 14th century, see Paolo TEDESCHI, Notizie storiche della città di Pirano, raccolte dal prof. Luigi Morteani, Archivio storico Lombardo. Giornale della Società storica Lombarda, 13/3, 1886, pp. 988–989.
[2] The nearby churches of St Francis in Cividale and Udine, where most of the murals on the nave walls and in the choir chapels have survived, can be taken as examples. For the church of St Francis in Udine, see especially San Francesco di Udine (ed. Cesare Scalon), Udine 2020, with earlier bibliography. For the murals in the Church of St Francis in Cividale, cf. Chiara DE SANTI, Affreschi del XIV secolo negli ambienti conventuali della chiesa di San Francesco a Cividale, Forum Iulii, 31, 2007, pp. 73–108; Cristina VESCUL, La decorazione giottesca nella chiesa di San Francesco a Cividale del Friuli. Nuove proposte di lettura, Forum Iulii, 35, 2011, pp. 109–123.

Technical analysis

Pigments: presumably white lime, yellow ochre, red earth, green earth, organic black

Analytical techniques: OM

The sample cross-sections reveal a bright plaster made of lime as the binder and translucent and mostly angular grains of the aggregate (Fig. 7). These grains are better visible under UV light (Fig. 7b). They could be either quartz or crushed limestone or marble, which would indicate a high-quality plaster, very appropriate for al fresco painting. The chemical analyses of the plaster have not yet been carried out.

White, yellow, red, green, blue, brown, and black colours have been preserved. The samples have not yet been analysed, so the pigments can only be inferred from the in situ colours and the colour layers visible in the sample cross-sections. The painter used white lime for the lower and upper bordures as well as to brighten the other colours. The yellow and the red are certainly yellow ochre and red earth. The brown could be burnt ochre or perhaps umber. The blue colour of the clothes of the kneeling figures in the lower part of the fragment does not reveal any blue pigment, such as azurite. Instead, it is a mixture of some organic black and white lime with a bit of yellow ochre and red earth (Figs. 7–8). The green colour preserved on the lower edge of the upper fragment is probably green earth, as the cross-section does not reveal any angular grains characteristic of crushed malachite but only small green lumps typical of green earth (Fig. 9). The black colour is probably of organic origin; it could be bone black or carbon black, which were the most commonly used black pigments in medieval painting in the territory of today’s Slovenia. The binder is both the lime from the plaster and some organic binder used to impregnate the pigments before they were applied to the already dry base.

The mural was painted using a combination of the al fresco and al secco technique, although, judging from the cross-sections of the samples taken from the preserved fragments, most of the mural was painted on a dry or just slightly humid base. The bordures were painted al secco, as the boundary between the plaster and the colour layer is clearly visible (Fig. 10). The green colour on the upper fragment was applied to the still somewhat fresh plaster, which, however, must have already been relatively dry, as a crust that formed on the plaster’s surface due to carbonation is visible in certain areas (Fig. 9). The draperies were also painted on almost dry plaster (Figs. 7–8).

The mural is too poorly preserved to discern any modelling. At least for the horizontal lines, the underdrawing was applied using a red colour, which is still visible on both the upper fragment and in the lower right part, at the level of the kneeling figure’s knees (Fig. 11). The preserved fragments do not reveal any incisions or pouncings. The colour modelling is no longer discernible. However, judging from certain details of the sample cross-sections, it is possible to establish that the upper black-and-white bordure was made by first applying white colour on a dry base, while the black lines were painted afterwards (Fig. 10). It is also visible that the folds of the drapery were applied with simple straight lines and single strokes on top of the basic blue colour (Fig. 12).

Gallery

Virtual 360° view

Piran, Church of St Francis of Assisi, Stage 1 (Piran), 2024 (last updated 7. 1. 2025). Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi, https://corpuspicturarum.zrc-sazu.si/en/poslikava/phase-1-piran/ (3. 4. 2025).

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