Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata

In this woodland setting, the trees yield to the divine presence, which travels from the upper right sunburst through the forest, like a heavenly explosion, toward the figure of Saint Francis at left. Landscape was central to the story of the saint, who, Christian tradition says, spent years in the wilderness living as a beggar before he miraculously received the stigmata (wounds of Christ) during an ecstatic vision. Titian’s dramatic lines create a series of dynamic diagonals, heightening the moment of religious rapture and expressing God’s power through the wonderous riches of nature.