Description
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.
Provenance
Possibly in the artist’s possession at the time of his death, 1614 [see 1614 inventory of the artist’s estate in Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, El Greco en Toledo (1910), repr., with notes by Rafael Sancho, Toledo, 1982, pp. 205–08]. Don Clemente de Velasco, Madrid, by 1902, until 1926 [recorded in the Velasco collection in 1902 exh. cat. and in Mayer 1926, p. 19, no. 114, pl. 7]. Durlacher Brothers, New York, by 1935 [letter from R. Kirk Askew, Jr., Durlacher Brothers, to Robert Harshe, November 29, 1935, Art Institute Archives]; sold to the Art Institute, 1935.
Accession Number
21907
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.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Robert A. Waller Memorial Fund
