It is assumed that the Magdalen Chapel was the starting-point of the work carried out by Giotto and his assistants in other parts of the Lower Church, including the right transept and the vault. It has been recently demonstrated that these areas were frescoed before Pietro Lorenzetti painted the scenes of the Passion in the left transept, a work executed before 1320. It is thought that as soon as the frescoes in the Magdalen Chapel were completed, Giotto and his workshop were commissioned to redecorate the right transept of the vault. This area had been previously frescoed in the late thirteenth century, as is indicated by the presence of Cimabue's large fresco of the Madonna enthroned with angels and St. Francis, which was spared.

At the beginning and in the middle of the 20th century the frescoes in the Lower church were cleaned and painstakingly restored. Since then some have held them to be the work of utmost quality from Giotto's own hand, others as the ambitious work of pupils. The debate is open up to now.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 32 minutes): Guillaume Dufay: Hymn for Easter

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	View of the choir towards the west - Fresco Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi	1030*878 True Color 189 Kb
	View of the choir towards the west - Fresco Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi	1300*1011 True Color 285 Kb
	Panoramic view of the frescoes 1320-40 Fresco Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi	1022*850 True Color 188 Kb
	View of the western transept c. 1320 Fresco Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi	1136*1000 True Color 255 Kb

• Frescoes on the ceiling of the north transept of the Lower Church
• Frescoes in the crossing vault of the Lower Church
• Frescoes in the Magdalen Chapel of the Lower Church