During the 14th and 15th centuries, there was no systematic method of naming individuals. Some artists chose their own names, while others named themselves after their fathers or the towns where they lived or were born. The name Giovanni di Paolo means “Giovanni, the son of Paolo,” and the artist usually is referred to simply as “Giovanni.”
Little is known about Giovanni’s life and artistic training. He lived in Siena, in the Tuscan region of Italy. The artist’s first recorded painting commissions date from 1420, suggesting that he was born around 1399. He produced book illuminations as well as panel paintings. Giovanni joined the Painters Guild of Siena in 1428, remaining at the forefront of the group until 1441. At around that time, he began signing his work regularly. His last documented painting is signed and dated 1475.
This small painting tells a story from the life of Saint Clare of Assisi (1194–1253), as told in the official biography written shortly after her canonization in 1255. In the center of the composition, a child is being attacked by a wolf. In grisly detail, Giovanni shows the wolf clutching the child’s bloody, severed forearm in its teeth. The child looks backward, towards his kneeling mother, who pleads for heavenly intervention. In the upper right is an apparition of Saint Clare, emerging amidst golden rays. The saint makes a gesture of benediction over the scene below, thus saving the life of the child. Giovanni presents the story with clarity and impact, including only those elements necessary to understand the miracle.
Giovanni’s highly personal style retains a dreamy, almost mystical quality. Strange landscapes appear frequently in his work, and here the sparse setting adds to the isolation of the helpless figures. With the exception of the grid of receding fields composed in accordance with Renaissance perspective, the painting illustrates the naive style that gives the artist’s work its mystical power.
The technique of painting on wood panel remained relatively unchanged between 1350 and 1500. An artist would commission a carpenter to produce the wooden framework and panel pieces in the appropriate size. The panels—often made of poplar—were seasoned to protect against woodworm and changes in humidity. The artist would then coat the panel, paint the scene, and embellish the finished work with gilt. While gilding added to the expense of a painting, certain pigments, such as blue made from lapis lazuli, also considerably increased the price of a painting, revealing the wealth and taste of the owner.
Few Italian multipaneled paintings have survived in their original format. This panel originally was part of a larger altarpiece that at some point in its history was dismantled, probably to be sold or moved. The complete altarpiece is believed to have contained three additional panels— now in other museums—along with a large centrally placed crucifix. Because the companion panels also narrate the story of Saint Clare, it is believed that the altarpiece was made for one of Siena’s four churches of the Poor Clares, the order founded by the saint.
