Some of the Basilica’s magnificent paintings are a testament to the devotion to St. Francis and his friars and, therefore, also of St Bernardino and the Observants’ dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. On view in the first chapel on the left there is the Madonna with Child and Angels, painted around 1455 by Sano di Pietro, a prolific artist from Siena with an extraordinary mastery in drawing and in the use of colours. The infant Christ, tenderly clinging to his Mother’s cloak, is holding a fruit, most probably an apple, symbol of his victory over the original sin, achieved through his death and resurrection; the Child’s red robes and the sad and pensive gaze of the Blessed Virgin allude to the Passion of Christ. The same artist also made the altarpiece above the altar in the third chapel on the right portraying the Madonna with Child between St Bernardino and St Jerome, which dates back to the mid-fifteenth century. As in the aforementioned work, even this painting bears a strong reference to the Holy Passion, which in this case is represented by the Goldfinch held by Jesus: the legend goes that the little bird had pricked itself while it was removing the thorns from Jesus’ brow after the crown had been placed on his head during crucifixion. In the process the bird stained itself with the Saviour’s blood, and from that day the head feathers have . . .