Picasso, Titian, Raphael, Monet – there are plenty of old dead white blokes you could build a blockbuster exhibition around, and visitors would flock to it in droves. The National Gallery’s latest famous name is a bit different, but arguably more influential, possibly even more famous, than any of those guys, though he would no doubt mumble demurringly and scurry back into his hovel at the mention of it.
And yet, Saint Francis of Assisi is almost certainly going to guarantee the museum a hit. The 13th century monk, for whom the current pope is named and who famously denounced all material possessions in favour of living in a broken down hut with a donkey, was popular from his earliest days.
