ARTHUR Boyd had been fascinated with the story of the life of St Francis of Assisi since he travelled to Gubbio and Assisi in Umbria, Italy, in 1964 to explore the relationship of the landscape of the region with the life of Francis. Francis was the patron saint of the region and founded the Catholic Franciscan Order in 1210.

Francis, who had been born into a wealthy family in 1181, rejected his privileged life and lived and worked among the poor and ill. From 1203 to 1209 he suffered a serious illness which motivated him to lead the life of a penitent. His father beat him for this decision and turned him out, leading Francis to follow a life of poverty and care for the disadvantaged, animals and the environment.

While in Italy, Boyd made a series of pastel sketches that interpreted the tortured life of St Francis. In London, after further reading, he developed a large suite of 20 images capturing various narratives. They were exhibited in Melbourne in 1965 and were photographed, creating a set of high-quality transparencies.

Through John Olsen, Boyd became interested in tapestry and approached the Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre in Portugal. The workshop uses a wrapped warp technique, where multiple wool yarns are mixed as a single weft thread, giving 2500 stitches per square metre. This gives an intensity of colour and texture in the weave and allows a precise interpretation of the artist’s original work.

Using the transparencies, the soft marks and lines of Boyd’s colourful pastels were delicately translated into the fabric of the tapestries. The process requires many steps by experts in specific techniques.

Twenty tapestries were woven depicting familiar Francis’ stories and eight are being exhibited. They are luminous, glowing with colour, and almost appear to be lit from behind. The saturated colours and texture express the violence, brutality and passion of Francis’ life, contradicting the softness of the woven fabric with the brutality in the images.

The Life of St Francis Tapestry Suite has rarely been shown and is almost unknown as a result. They add an extraordinary dimension to the range of work on display in this outstanding exhibition.