中世纪晚期和文艺复兴时期，意大利美术中出现了大量表现圣方济各及其追随者的作品。同时，方济各会成为了最重要的艺术赞助力量之一。他们建立教堂，委托艺术家来到教堂内创作艺术作品；或者依托自身影响力，吸引富有世俗赞助人来进行艺术赞助。在这一历史进程中，作为基督教团体的方济各会促进了人文主义的发展，极大影响了意大利文艺复兴美术。最初，塑造“第二基督”圣方济各是方济各会艺术赞助的核心思想。“第二基督”的表现伴随着对创会圣人方济各的狂热个人崇拜，其规模和程度十分突出。同时，方济各会鼓励艺术家将传统的基督教美术题材的内容和形式加以拓展，比如促使十字架绘画中的“胜利基督”形象向“受难基督”形象转变。此外，手抄本读物也在方济各会的赞助下取得了长足发展，客观地繁荣了中世纪末期的书籍制作。类比“第二基督”的塑造模式，方济各会也着力表现其第一位女性圣徒克莱尔，也想将其变成“第二圣母”。尽管未能如愿，却掀起了表现女性圣徒的热潮。这些表现女性圣徒的作品推陈出新，为后来类似题材的表现提供了丰富的借鉴范例。圣徒崇拜热情的高涨伴随着大量方济各会教堂的出现。作为哥特式建筑在意大利的先声，这些教堂是意大利建筑艺术中的重要组成部分。因方济各会追求平等的价值观，与人文主义的精神相互契合，部分教堂已成为文化符号，比如展现意大利民族精神的佛罗伦萨圣十字大教堂。15世纪中后期，伴随着世俗赞助人在艺术赞助中话语权的逐渐增大，艺术作品的多样性开始呈现。与前述问题相伴随的还有艺术赞助之争，恪守神贫的初衷与艺术赞助的财富使用存在着内在矛盾，使方济各会内部分裂成持不同主张的派别。历史经验证明，方济各会打破规则和禁忌的过程是不可逆的，艺术赞助的洪流已经不能被部分恪守赤贫的修士所阻拦。15世纪之前，方济各会通过直接的艺术赞助来扩大自身影响力，同时在基督教领域引入人文主义的思想，营造了宽松和进步的美术制作氛围。15世纪之后，方济各会逐渐将艺术赞助的话语权让位于世俗赞助者，潜移默化的将僧会的价值观灌注到艺术作品之中去。事实上，在文艺复兴美术史中，存在一条以人文主义作为精神导向与核心诉求的显著线索，而方济各会在其中扮演了至关重要的角色。它是开拓者、启蒙者，同时是文化符号。
In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a large number of works representing St. Francis and his followers appeared in Italian fine art. At the same time, Franciscans have become one of the most important arts sponsors. They built churches and commissioned artists to come to the church to create works of art; or rely on their own influence to attract rich secular patrons for art sponsorship. In this historical process, the Franciscans as a Christian group promoted the development of humanism and greatly influenced the Italian Renaissance art.Originally, shaping ＂Second Christ＂ St. Francis was the core idea of Franciscan art sponsorship. The performance of the ＂Second Christ＂ is accompanied by a fanatical personal worship of Francis the Founder, whose scale and degree are outstanding. At the same time, Franciscans encourage artists to expand the content and form of traditional Christian art topics, such as to promote the gradual transformation of the image of ＂Christ triumphant＂ into the image of ＂Christ suffering＂ in cross painting. In addition, the manuscript readings have also made great progress under the auspices of the Franciscans, objectively developing the production of books in the late Middle Ages. By analogy to the ＂Second Christ＂ model, the Franciscans also focused on expressing their first female saint, Claire, and wanted to turn it into the ＂Second Virgin.＂ Although failing to do so, it objectively developed the performance of female saints. These works of female saints were introduced in new ways, and provided a rich reference for later performances of similar themes. The enthusiasm for saint worship has been accompanied by the emergence of Franciscan churches in Italy. Due to the Franciscans‘ pursuit of equal values and the spirit of humanism, some churches have become cultural symbols, such as the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, which displays the national spirit of Italy. In the middle and late 15th century, with the increasing discourse power of worldly patrons in art sponsorship, the diversity of art works also began to appear. Along with these issues is the dispute over art sponsorship. There is an inherent contradiction between adhering to the original intention of divine poverty and the use of wealth sponsored by art, which split the Franciscans into factions with different opinions. Historical experience proves that the process of Franciscans breaking rules and taboos is irreversible, and the torrent of art sponsorship can no longer be blocked by some monks who strictly abide by extreme poverty.Before the 15th century, the Franciscans expanded their influence through direct artistic sponsorship, and introduced humanistic ideas in the religious field, creating a relaxed and progressive atmosphere for fine arts production. After the 15th century, the Franciscans gradually gave way to the patrons of art sponsorship, but still imperceptibly infused the values of the monk society into the works of art. In fact, in the history of Renaissance Art, there is a significant clue that takes humanism as the spiritual direction and core appeal, and Franciscans played a crucial role in it as a pioneer, an enlightener, and a cultural symbol.
