Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664)
San Francisco rezando (Saint Francis in Prayer)
c.1638–1639
Oil on canvas, 117.5 x 90.2 cm
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
St. Francis of Assisi, a mystic and poet, was also the founder of the Franciscans, an important mendicant order. Zurbarán portrayed the saint in his later years, which Francis devoted to meditating on the suffering of the crucified Christ. The artist’s tight focus on the figure is in keeping with Counter-Reformation aesthetics as defined by St. Ignatius of Loyola, who prescribed directness and realism in the representation of religious subjects. Though the figure is modeled with strong chiaroscuro, the variations of ocher tones and distant landscape mellow the intensity of the saint’s concentration. (Norton Simon)