For the Birds: Representing Nature from Saint Francis to Pope Francis

Using Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on the environment, as a point of departure, this talk explores the changing representation of the pope’s namesake, Saint Francis, from the thirteenth to the twenty-first century, examining how evolving ideas about the human-nature relationship are expressed in images of the patron saint of ecology. Presented by Karl Kusserow, John Wilmerding Curator of American Art.