The Lamentation over St Francis

Saint Francis lies on a red and gold striped cloth as a group of tonsured friars mourn, some kissing his hands and feet. A man in red robes, representing the nobleman Jerome, kneels to examine the stigmata on the saint's side to verify the miracle. In the upper center, the saint's soul is shown inside a radiant almond-shaped glow being carried toward heaven by two angels.

Saint Francis was a foundational figure for Western mysticism, viewed as the 'alter Christus' due to his stigmata, which represented a literal physical transformation through spiritual devotion. His emphasis on a direct, personal experience of the divine and his 'Canticle of the Sun' influenced the proto-scientific and natural philosophical views of the late Middle Ages.