A Group of Four Poor Clares
- Artist: Ambrogio Lorenzetti
- Date: 1320s
- Medium: fresco with areas of secco
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is "A Group of Four Poor Clares" painted in the Italian north by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The central figure has a gentle gaze and gracefully places her hand across her breast, while the other nuns are clustered together behind her. Some of their veils wave gently, giving a sense of movement.
You can still see some of the original colours, although they've faded with time. Notice how brown paint remains in the tunics, identifying these women as Poor Clares - an order founded by Saint Clare in the thirteenth century. They take vows to live lives of poverty and penance.
This fragment may have belonged to a larger scene showing Saint Francis handing the Rule to Franciscan friars and Poor Clare nuns gathered around him. It was part of a cycle of images decorating the chapter house of San Francesco in Siena, where Ambrogio Lorenzetti excelled in wall-painting technique.
The fresco was rediscovered in 1855 and sold internationally in 1878 due to its value as an example of early Sienese painting.
See it in person
A Group of Four Poor Clares hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
