The Man of Sorrows. Artist: Michele Giambono (Michele Giovanni Bono) (Italian, active Venice 1420-62). Dimensions: Overall, with engaged frame, 21 5/8 x 15 1/4 in. (54.9 x 38.7 cm); painted surface 18 1/2 x 12 1/4 in. (47 x 31.1 cm). Date: ca. 1430.Depicted upright in his tomb, his hands extended to display his wounds, the blood and crown of thorns rendered in relief, this exquisitely rendered Jesus has been conceived as a focus for meditation. A diminutive Saint Francis receives the Stigmata and becomes a surrogate for the viewer. Elaborately framed, with the reverse painted to imitate porphyry--a stone with imperial associations--the picture would have been a precious object of devotion, perhaps for a Franciscan friar. The pattern on the deteriorated background derives from Islamic textiles. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.