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The Ecstasy of Saint Francis
Giovanni Baglione·1601
Historical Context
Giovanni Baglione painted The Ecstasy of Saint Francis in 1601, during his brief engagement with Caravaggesque dramatic lighting. Baglione is perhaps best known for his bitter rivalry with Caravaggio, which culminated in a famous libel trial in 1603, but his paintings from around 1600-1603 show genuine absorption of Caravaggesque naturalism. He later wrote the first biographies of Caravaggio and other Roman painters in his Vite (1642).
Technical Analysis
Baglione's oil on canvas demonstrates the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggesque painting applied to a mystical subject. The stark contrast between the illuminated saint and the dark background creates the theatrical intensity characteristic of the first generation of Caravaggio's followers.
Provenance
Possibly Cardinal Bernardino Spada, Rome, to 1636 [see February 1636 inventory cited by Aurigemma, 1994]. Borghese Collection, Rome by 1650, probably until 1804 [Benedetti 1949, p. 4]. Cardinal Joseph Fesch, Rome [Benedetti, 1949, p. 4]; donated by him to the city of Lyon, France for a charity auction in 1836 [Benedetti 1949, p. 4]. M. Breval of Fontaine St. Martin, near Lyon [note in 1909 Louvre photo archive]. Henry Charles Ponsonby Moore, 10th Earl of Drogheda, London and Dublin, to 1947 [purchase document from Agnew, March 1959]; sold by Earl of Drogheda through Agnew’s, London, to Michele de Benedetti, Rome, in June 1947; consigned by Benedetti to Agnew’s, 1959 [purchase document from Agnew, March 1959]; sold by Agnew’s to Mrs. Suzette Morton Zurcher (died 1996) (later Davidson), Santa Barbara and Chicago, March 1959; bequeathed to the Art Institute with her husband Eugene Davidson (died 2002) having life interest, 2002.
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