SPANISH SCHOOL, 17th CENTURY Ecstasy of Saint Francis Oil...

SPANISH SCHOOL, 17th CENTURY

Ecstasy of Saint Francis

Oil on canvas, cm. 117,7x96

This painting is in line with the iconography, so widespread in the age of the Counter-Reformation, in which St. Francis in ecstasy is supported by the angels and comforted by their celestial music. The theme naturally lent itself to representations of ardent mysticism, presenting particularly engaging devotional characters. The cult of the poor man of Assisi, with its typical immediately recognizable features, was particularly heated in Spain and the Iberian painting of the seventeenth century made the ecstasy of St. Francis one of the most recurrent sacred themes, from El Greco to Zurbaran, from Ribera to Alonso Cano; but rather Bartolomé Esteban Murillo seems to be the main source of inspiration for our painting, which is characterized by his intense naturalism and his touching pathetism.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Umbria.