ABSTRACT
Musing on these certainties, I reached my destination, the vast, barn-like church of S. Croce, determined to see Giotto’s Bardi Chapel, with its scenes from the life of St Francis, founder of the Franciscan order. There could have been no greater contrast between the path of worldly and material renunciation deliberately chosen by this young aristocrat, who had dedicated himself to God and Lady Poverty, and the one I envisioned for myself. I made my way down the right-hand side of the cool nave, stopping along the way to admire Donatello’s Cavalcanti Annunciation, with its monumental sculpted Virgin recoiling in fear and self-protection from the Angel on her right, who bowed before her with his incomprehensible message: ‘And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus’ (Luke 1: 31).
