El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos; Greek, active in Spain, 1541–1614)
Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation
INV-2190
El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos; Greek, active in Spain, 1541–1614)c. 1595–c. 1600
Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation
El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos; Greek, active in Spain, 1541–1614) →Mannerismsixteenth centuryRenaissance16th Centuryoil on canvasoil paintings (visual works)
Date
c. 1595–c. 1600
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.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Robert A. Waller Memorial Fund
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.
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