The Basilica of St Bernardino all'Osservanza

Lost Treasures of the Observance

The first work performed for the Observance dates back to Saint Bernardino, who commissioned a painting on board on a subject dear to him - the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, similar to the one at the Antiporto di Camollia. Bernardino was particularly fascinated by this image and from an early age he had spent long hours in contemplation in front of it. Sadly, the panel painted by Stefano di Giovanni, known as il Sassetta, and placed on the Basilica’s high altar, was lost in the seventeenth century.
In the nineteenth century the Napoleonic suppression of the monasteries led to a massive pillage of the artistic heritage belonging to ecclesiastical entities. And the works of art of the Observance’s friary were not immune, such as the beautiful Crucifixion made by Giovanni di Paolo in 1440, which was transferred to the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena.
Notwithstanding the suppression, the church continued to be the seat of the parish and remained open for worship; when the friary was reopened in 1815, about fifteen works were returned. Three of these were placed in the third chapel on the right (the Virgin with Child with Saints Jerome and Bernardino by Sano di Pietro, the Saint Bernardino by Giovanni d'Ambrogio and the Saint Elizabeth of Hungary by Girolamo di Benvenuto), while the others found room in the sacristy and in the friary. As a matter of fact, only some of these paintings had actually belonged to Observance: Andrea di Bartolo’s paintings (four side sections of a polyptych), for example, came from the church of Santa Petronilla.