San Francesco.
The church of San Francesco can be seen very well from the church of San Bernardino outside the centre of Urbino. From the latter church one has a good view of the apse and bell-tower of the building (image below). San Francesco is obviously dedicated to Saint Franciscus of Assisi (ca. 1181-1226), founder of the Order of Friars Minor. The first Franciscans settled in Urbino when Franciscus was still alive. Initially they made use of existing buildings, but in 1286 the friars launched the construction of their own church with a large adjacent monastic complex. Work was completed around 1351. Of the medieval church, basically only the portico and aforementioned bell-tower have been preserved. The interior of the building was thoroughly remodelled between 1732 and 1751 on the orders of the cardinal Annibale Albani (1682-1751), nephew of Pope Clemens XI. Once one could admire frescoes by the brothers Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni in the San Francesco, as well as work by Antonio Alberti da Ferrara, Ottaviano Nelli (ca. 1375-1444) and their followers. Of all these artworks only traces have survived (see below).
Many famous inhabitants of Urbino were buried in the church of San Francesco, but do not expect a church full of beautiful tombs. What we usually get to see are simple slabs with just the names of the deceased. See for instance the grave of the painter Giovanni Santi (ca. 1440-1494) and his wife Magia Ciarla. They were the parents of the great Raphael (1483-1520), who was, by the way, buried in the Pantheon in Rome. Next to their simple tombstone we see that of the famous local painter Federico Barocci (ca. 1535-1612). The previous lines do not mean that there are no beautiful funerary monuments at all in the church. At the beginning of the nave there are two interesting sarcophagi that come from one of the cloisters next to the church. The sarcophagus on the right, by an anonymous sculptor, is the oldest of the two. It served as the final resting place of Agnese de’ Prefetti (died 1416), the wife of Antonio II da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino (1375-1404). Antonio and Agnese were the parents of Guidantonio da Montefeltro and the grandparents of the famous condottiero and patron of the arts Federico da Montefeltro.
View of Urbino and San Francesco.
The second sarcophagus is that of Calapatrissa Santucci, who died in 1478. She was the wife of the phisicus (doctor) Agostino Santucci, and the monument was commissioned by her sons Alessandro and Pierpaolo. The sarcophagus is a work by Domenico Rosselli (ca. 1439-1498). It is quite reasonable to assume that these Santuccis were related to Girolamo Santucci, who between 1469 and 1494 served as bishop of Fossombrone. The lid of Girolamo’s tomb with his effigy has for some reason been placed under the high altar. The name of the maker of the sculpture is unknown, and the tomb originally stood in the cathedral of Urbino.
Perdono d’Assisi – Federico Barocci.
Above the high altar hangs the most famous painting in the church, the Perdono d’Assisi by Federico Barocci from 1571-1576. According to tradition it was in the year 1216 that Franciscus of Assisi entered the Porziuncola in Assisi, the small former Benedictine chapel that the Franciscans used, and prayed there to Jesus and Mary. He asked them to grant a plenary indulgence to all pilgrims that travelled to the Porziuncola to pray and make their confessions there. Jesus answered his prayer, after which Franciscus asked Pope Honorius III (1216-1227) to formally institute the Perdono d’Assisi. The Perdono d’Assisi still exists and can be obtained each year on 1 and 2 August. In Barocci’s painting we see the small chapel in Assisi in the background. Franciscus has fallen to his knees, and above him Mary, Jesus and Saint Nicholas are visible. The latter was included because the work was commissioned by a certain Nicola Ventura.
The church has a couple of fresco fragments that certainly warrant closer inspection. In the Cappella Paltroni we find some detached pieces of fresco by Antonio Alberti da Ferrara or the mysterious Maestro del Trittico di San Bartolomeo. In the same chapel there is a Pietà from the middle of the fifteenth century, a product of the German school. Elsewhere in the church we see a tiny piece of the Crucifixion, attributed to the Salimbeni brothers. If you want to see what the brothers were really capable of making, be sure to visit the Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista in Urbino, where their frescoes have survived virtually intact. Lastly, in the Cappella del Santissimo Sacramento we find a piece of a fresco of the Madonna breastfeeding baby Jesus, a work by Ottaviano Nelli or his school.
Post based on the information panels in the church.