From St. Francis To Giotto

Vincent Moleta

With over 50 illustrations, From Francis to Giotto "Brings together and reviews some of the most familiar expressions of early Franciscan culture, such as the fresco cycle in the Upper Church of San Francesco and Canto XI of Dante's Paradiso, while it merely touches on related questions such as the debate over poverty and the influence of Joachim of Fiore.  These issues, though they loom large in the early history of the Franciscan Order and have become a preserve of scholars, are not central to the theme of this book."  The aim is, "rather, to show St. Francis through the eyes of Italian writers and painters active during the century that followed his death, and to outline his place in the native culture that flowered in Italy from the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century."
- From the author's Foreward (xi)