Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 92 × 74 cm (36 3/16 × 24 1/8 in.); Framed: 112.4 × 94.6 × 8.9 cm (44 1/4 × 37 1/4 × 3 1/2 in.)
- Genre
- oil on canvas
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
religionoil paintings (visual works)paintingreligious attirepaintcrossskulls16th CenturyleavescanvasJesusLeafreligious figuresSkyoil on canvasDevotionmenoil paint (paint)painting (image making)crucifixionspainting techniquesreligious scenesSaintsRenaissanceChristian subjectsmansixteenth centuryreligiousMannerismcloudsSaint Francisoil paintingtreescaveeuropean paintingwildernessChristianitybiblesNature
About
Saint Francis appears here surrounded by symbols associated with his sainthood. The book, for example, speaks to his devotional studies, and the skull is a reminder of the inevitability of death. The painting prompts the viewer to meditate upon the saint in the same way that he prays before the sculpture of Christ. At least a dozen other versions of this composition by El Greco exist, evidence of Francis’s tremendous popularity in Toledo, Spain, where he made his career.
