3-002-748 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A Franciscan Monk Preaching, c1515-1525. Within a spacious and unadorned hall, a Franciscan monk preaches to a group of ecclesiastics and laymen. In accordance with Renaissance social hierarchies, women are seated on the ground while men are seated on benches or standing. The monk looming over the crowd from a simple wooden pulpit gestures upward toward God, the source of his authority, and rests his other hand on a piece of paper marked with a red seal. The paper is likely a papal bull, or decree, investing the monk’s arguments with the authority of the church.