Francis returns to Assisi from Mount Verna before his death
The group of sculptures by Dionigi Bussola, already completed in 1698, depicts Saint Francis being led on a donkey to the Porziuncola, where he wishes to die. All around, a crowd shaking olive branches, kisses him and cheers for him. The painted decoration, in soft pastel shades, is the work of Stefano Maria Legnani, also known as Legnanino, a leading artist in Lombardy, Turin and Novara, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He added an early Rococò style to the scenes representing the miracle of Jesus, healing a young woman, and the angels, on the vault.