Saint Francis

Saint Francis

Saint Francis

Artist:
Federico Barocci (Italian, Urbino ca. 1535–1612 Urbino)
Date:
ca. 1600–1604
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
35 3/8 x 30 7/8 in. (89.9 x 78.4 cm); with added strips 35 7/8 x 31 3/8 in. (91.1 x 79.7 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift and 2002 Benefit Fund, 2003

This canvas is conceived as a meditation on Saint Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226), who is shown in a grotto on Mount La Verna, where he received the stigmata (depicted as protruding nails, in conformity with early Franciscan sources). A key figure in the history of Italian painting, Barocci was close to the Capuchin order, and this deeply felt work must have been intended for a friar or a supporter of the Franciscan order. Barocci was a slow, meticulous painter. His work, with its compositional refinement, its warm humanity and deep expressivity, laid the groundwork for Baroque art.

Provenance
Francesco Santangelo, Palazzo Carafa di Maddaloni, Naples (by 1815–d. 1836); his son, Nicola Santangelo, Palazzo Carafa di Maddaloni (1836–47); his brother, Michele Santangelo, Palazzo Carafa di Maddaloni, and Villa dei Santangelo, Pollena (1847–d. 1876); Santangelo family, Pollena (1876–?early 1900s; cat., 1876, no. 4, as by Barocci); [Arthur Costantini, London, by early 1970s–early 1980s; sold to Tazzoli]; Mario Tazzoli, London (from early 1980s); by descent to a private collector (until 2003; sold through Marco Grassi to MMA)

Copyright Image
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