Saint Francis in prayer
XVII century. Oil on laid paper.On display elsewhere
Saint Francis of Assisi is depicted half-length and shown in profile inside the hermitage where he retired in 1224. The outstretched hands of the saint show the stigmata he has just received as he contemplates the heavenly vision of Christ crucified, which appears in the upper left corner. The composition and attitude of the figure share similarities with one of the variants of the Franciscan stigmatisation created by El Greco in the late eighties. Wethey baptised this painting as variant III or El Escorial type, and it depicts Saint Francis with the hood of his habit covering his head and his left hand more extended, showing the Christological imprint. In this small work, the head of the saint is uncovered, his hands are closer together and it is the palm of the right hand that shows the stigmatic imposition that Saint Francis has just undergone. A skull resting close to the saint has been added to the background of the scene but standing out, as it has been placed between the hands of the saint. This presence would include the vision of the reflective saint, thoughtful about death, which creates a narrative passage immediately after the stigmatization. El Greco also successfully dealt with this subject, and it became one of the fundamental themes of Spanish Baroque religiosity.
Ruiz Gómez, Leticia, El Greco en el Museo Nacional del Prado: catálogo razonado, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2007, p.245-247 n.42
