Italian school; 17th century.

Italian school; XVII century.
"Saint Francis pertinent".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements. 47,5 x 37,5 cm; 64 x 54 cm (frame).
The work shows St. Francis dressed in a dark brown habit, holding a skull with a solemn and meditative expression. The artist immortalizes with his brush a moment of deep reflection on death and spirituality, common themes in Renaissance and Baroque sacred art. The emotionality in this painting is conveyed through the dark palette and the careful chiaroscuro that directs attention to the face and hands of the saint. The texture of the habit and the detailed treatment of the skull add realism, creating an atmosphere of recollection and reverence.
The work achieves a powerful emotional charge through the serene and humble depiction of the saint, inviting the viewer to share in his introspection and spiritual quest. The melancholic tone and attention to detail symbolize the fragility of life and the path to salvation, thus achieving a deep and contemplative impact.
Baptized 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, practicing the Gospel ideal: purity, detachment and joy in peace. Francesco renounces the great inheritance received from his parents and decides to live poorly, giving an example of authentic Christianity. 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 tasks. During a retreat on the mountain, Christ appeared to him, and legend has it that from his wounds came rays that caused Francis various stigmata. He was a legendary character during his lifetime, considered a living relic. Likewise, 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". His iconography is abundant, only surpassed by that of Saint Anthony of Padua. He always wears the Franciscan sackcloth, with a three-knotted cord tied at the waist. The three knots represent the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He also usually shows the stigmata on his hands and feet, and sometimes these are highlighted by rays of light coming out of the wounds, although this is not the case here. At first the saint was depicted in art with a beard, until the painter Giotto, who devoted much of his work to this saint, painted him without it. At the time of the Counter-Reformation he was painted again with a beard, less smiling and more suffering.