The Investiture of Saint Clare: the Saint receiving the clothes of her Order from Saint Francis

Giovanni di Paolo's Investiture of Saint Clare (1457), showing Francis of Assisi receiving Clare into religious life by cutting her hair and presenting her Order's habit, is part of a predella series depicting the life of Saint Francis now dispersed across several collections. Giovanni di Paolo was the greatest Sienese painter of the mid-fifteenth century, working in a conservative but richly inventive style that absorbed little of Florentine Renaissance perspective in favor of an otherworldly, gold-lit spiritual vision. The Gemäldegalerie Berlin panel exemplifies his approach: the sacred event depicted with a solemn formality that transcends historical narrative.

Giovanni di Paolo's characteristic gold-leaf ground and flat, decorative space typify the conservative Sienese tradition. Figures are elongated and stylized in a Byzantine-derived manner, yet each carries an expressive individuality. Colors are vivid and unmodulated — deep reds, blues, and greens without atmospheric perspective.