Saint Francis Preaching to the Birds

As told in the early lives of Saint Francis, the friar was traveling to preach when he paused to address a flock of birds, which gathered at his feet and listened rather than scattering - a sign of his kinship with all living creatures. The scene comes from the great fresco cycle of Francis's life in the upper church at Assisi, the saint's burial place, traditionally attributed to Giotto. He gives it a plain, immediate setting - two trees, a strip of ground, figures of real weight - and tells the miracle without spectacle, as though it simply happened. That grounded conviction is the root of Giotto's revolution in painting.