Escuela manierista toscana; S. XVI

Tuscan Mannerist school; second half of the 16th century.
"Saint Francis of Assisi".
Oil on copper.
Measurements: 22,5 x 17 cm.
The small dimensions of the work and the copper support invite us to think that it is a work destined for private devotion. Kneeling, a saint prays before the cross of Christ, from the rocky landscape we can intuit that he is a hermit. However, a remarkable fact is the appearance of another saint with a bushy beard, who is absorbed in reading a book.
From the belt of the main saint, made of a rope from which hang three knots, poverty, chastity and obedience, it can be deduced that the work represents Saint Francis of Assisi (Assisi, Italy, 1182 - 1226), the son of a wealthy Italian merchant. Baptised as John, he soon became known as "Francesco" (the little Frenchman), because his mother came from that country. His youth was joyful and carefree until the age of twenty-five, when he changed completely and began to dedicate himself to the service of God, practising the Gospel ideal: purity, detachment and joy in peace. Francesco renounced the great inheritance he had received from his parents and decided to live poorly, giving the example of an authentic Christian. He soon had several young disciples, called by the saint "order of the Friars Minor". In 1210, Pope Innocent III granted them the foundation of the new order and encouraged them in their evangelical work. During a retreat on the mountain, Christ appeared to him, and legend has it that rays came out of his wounds, causing Francis various stigmata. He was a legendary figure during his lifetime, considered a living relic. In addition, his exquisite poetry and his familiarity with nature add the most human accent known in a saint, as can be seen in his "Canticle to the Sun".