WALDEMAR JANUSZCZAK
Saint Francis — an edgy messianic cult leader or Mr Nice Guy?
A show at the National Gallery portrays this Christian leader as a Disney saint who was good to animals. What a missed opportunity
The Sunday Times
Brother of the universe: St Francis Receiving the Stigmata, El Greco 1590-95
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Saint Francis of Assisi at the National Gallery in London is a happy-clappy affair replete with sugar-coated religiosity and a level of investigative ambition worthy of the under-tens class at a Sunday school. What’s to blame? The coronation moment? Internal confusion at the National about critical standards? Beats me. What I do know is that the show feels more like an episode of Songs of Praise than a serious museum inquiry.
Which is a shame because St Francis was certainly a fascinating artistic presence. Building an exhibition around him is a brave and unusual thing to do. Here was a man who claimed that a wooden crucifix spoke to him and told him to rebuild the Christian faith. Later, a seraphic angel floating in the
