Italian school; 17th century.

Italian school; XVII century.
"St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has a frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 82 x 105 cm; 97 x 120 cm (frame).
This painting represents St. Francis of Assisi in one of the most widespread episodes of his mystical iconography: the ecstasy, moment in which the saint experiences an intense union with the divine. The scene is constructed by means of a theatrical staging of fully baroque roots, in which light and movement articulate the supernatural experience. The saint appears reclining, with the Franciscan habit girded by the three-knotted cord, symbol of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, while an angel of delicate youthful anatomy, dressed in a tunic of warm tones, holds a violin and seems to accompany the mystical trance with music. The presence of a putto among clouds reinforces the celestial dimension of the episode. In the foreground, the skull and the open book allude to meditation on death and contemplative life, traditional attributes of the saint that underline Franciscan ascetic spirituality.
The composition is inscribed in the language of the late Italian Baroque, characterized by compositional dynamism, the expressive use of chiaroscuro and a marked emotional theatricality. The directed illumination, which emerges from an unreal upper focus, models the figures with intense hallmarks of light and concentrates the attention on the transfigured face of the saint. This resource, heir to the naturalistic tradition of the 17th century, dialogues with the more lyrical and devotional current developed in the artistic environments of Rome, Naples or northern Italy, where religious painting sought to move the viewer and stimulate his piety.
The vaporous treatment of the clouds and the chromatic sensuality of the angel, together with the softening of the contours, reveal the evolution of the tenebrist dramatism towards gentler and more decorative formulas typical of the end of the century. Music, a relatively infrequent element in Franciscan iconography, introduces a sensorial dimension that connects with Counter-Reformation spirituality, in which art should involve the senses as a path to contemplation.