GIOTTO di Bondone
(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

St Francis Points to Death

c. 1320
Fresco
North transept, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi

This painting is located on the west wall in the northern transept to the right of the stairway leading to the upper story of the cloister. It depicts St Francis raising his right hand, exhorting us to pause, and pointing with his left to a decayed corpse, a crown askew on its head - a reminder of death, before which we all are equal.