As many of you know, I am not a religious person. Nevertheless, there are many religious figures for whom I have the utmost respect. One of them is the Italian mystic and breakaway friar, St Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226), the founder of a dynamic monastic order devoted to poverty. He was a rare person whose moral and ethical code was neither rigid nor punitive nor limited to human beings; he suggested that good, just and fair treatment must also be given to the natural world and its resident creatures. He was a 20c ecologist ahead of his times. Across many centuries, his values have endured; they have been taught, preached, and adopted by many across the globe, regardless of circumstance, colour, faith or nationality.
The National Gallery London has pertinently chosen to honour St Francis with a pioneering and comprehensive exhibition of his imagery from the Renaissance to the present. We should like to offer this two-part Lecture as a special Inscape evening event, one that will more than serve as an introduction to the exhibition. We also wish to recognize St Francis for his thoroughly modern family dilemmas, as well as to salute his extraordinary life, his far-reaching actions and writings, and, most importantly, the magnificent art and music immortalising him for all times.
His name alone evokes instant images in the mind’s eye that stretch from hazy childhood memories of Francis talking to a rapt audience of birds:
through to Sassetta’s wonderful 1440s series on St Francis’ life, filled with beauty of gesture and colour:
and on to Caravaggio’s brilliant depiction of St Francis swooning in spiritual ecstasy in the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford Connecticut:
through to the more recent garden sculpture – sometimes unself-consciously sentimental- whether in a school, a church, or a suburban garden.
The moving images of St Francis in the National Gallery exhibition are extensive: from canvases, medieval painted panels, relics sculpture, and manuscripts, all the way to films, and even a Marvel comic book! Every image demonstrates the degree to which he has captured the imagination of diverse and masterful artists since his death at age 45 in 1226. The exhibition provokes many questions. Why is he still relevant today? Why do we find this particular 13c humble figure so appealing to consider?
Our second session of the evening is devoted to Franciscan music. St Francis himself loved sacred music and was said to have a “beautiful” voice. He actively used music as a medium for prayer and worship. His poem ‘The Canticle of the Sun’ and his renowned prayers have become some of the most influential writings ever to inspire composers such as Franz Liszt, Amy Beach, Francois Poulenc, William Walton and Olivier Messiaen. The latter was indeed, like St Francis, directly inspired by birdsong. We will hear the exquisite voice of New Age musician Singh Kaur and others.
Please join us for a civilizing evening lecture of the sacred as well as the secular, a reading or two, and snippets interspersed with portions of evocative music across genres- as we salute the revolutionary Saint Francis, the wise man, the saint, the prophet.
Booking Information:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
We wish to assure you that active participation in Inscape’s Zoom sessions is wholly voluntary. You may choose whether or not to mute your video and your audio. All participants will be muted for the duration of the lecture, and invited to unmute themselves if they would like to engage in the discussion afterwards.
This online course via Zoom has been developed by Louise Friend and Nicholas Friend. It will be presented by Nicholas Friend, Co-Founder of Inscape. It is held on on Sunday 11 June and Sunday 18 June 2023 at 5 pm until 8pm. Please note the time of 5 pm: Nicholas will be lecturing from California (at 9 am his time) for the duration of this course.
If you would like to attend but cannot manage a particular date, then be assured we will be sending recordings of sessions to all participants. Each session meets from 20 minutes before the advertised time of the lecture, and each lecture lasts roughly one hour, with around 15 minutes discussion.
Cost: £80 members or £100 non-members for the evening of 2 sessions or £40 members or £50 non-members per individual session. All sessions are limited to 21 participants to permit an after-lecture discussion.
Due to the coronavirus cheques are not a viable option at this time. Instead, please make your payment to Friend&Friend Ltd by bank transfer to our account with Metrobank, bank sort code 23-05-80, account number 13291721 or via PayPal to nicholas@inscapetours.co.uk, or credit/debit card by phone to Henrietta on 07940 719397. She is available Tuesdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm or Thursdays 10-12 and 2-5 pm. Do get in touch if you would like extra support learning how to use Zoom.
How to Set Up a PayPal account::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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How to Connect your Bank Account to your PayPal account:::::::::::::::::::::::
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Enter the card information you wish to link to your PayPal account and click “Link card” for debit card.
How to Send Money::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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Type in the amount you wish to send, click continue then press ‘Send Money Now’.
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