St Francis in prayer c. 1655
Dark brown, grey and white oil paint on paper | 34.5 x 22.7 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 904006
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A drawing of St Francis kneeling to the left with his head turned upwards and slightly to the right as he gazes heavenward. His hands are crossed upon his chest, and he has a skull on the ground before him, and vegetation behind him. The Franciscan Order was one of the most prominent monastic orders in seventeenth-century Italy (Castiglione’s brother Paolo was a friar in the Order), and depictions of St Francis receiving the stigmata and other Franciscan saints in their devotions were common throughout the Catholic world. Castiglione’s series of studies of Franciscan saints (RCIN 903961, 903978, 903980, 904006, 904007) approach the status of a painting more closely than any other of his works on paper.
Provenance
Probably Carlo II and Fernandino-Carlo Gonzaga, 9th and 10th Dukes of Mantua; Zaccaria Sagredo; from whose heirs purchased by Joseph Smith, British Consul in Venice, 1752; from whom purchased by George III, 1762
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Medium and techniques
Dark brown, grey and white oil paint on paper
Measurements
34.5 x 22.7 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)