Saint Francis

Rubens painted Saint Francis around 1615, depicting the founder of the Franciscan order in a moment of mystical devotion shortly before or after receiving the stigmata — the wounds of Christ that marked him as a saint of supreme spiritual identification with the Passion. The Counter-Reformation had elevated Francis to new prominence as a model of devotional intensity: his ecstatic poverty, his absolute identification with the suffering Christ, and his preaching mission made him exactly the kind of active, emotionally intense saint that the Jesuits and their allies promoted against the Protestant emphasis on scripture alone. Rubens had returned from Italy in 1608 having absorbed the revolutionary new devotional imagery pioneered by Caravaggio, whose naturalistic saints suffering physical and spiritual extremity transformed how Catholic art addressed its viewers. By 1615 Rubens had fully assimilated this Caravaggist revolution while transforming it through his own more colouristically rich and physically dynamic approach. The Art Institute's panel demonstrates the warmth and immediacy that Rubens brought to devotional subjects that lesser artists rendered merely formulaic.

The saint is rendered with warm, naturalistic flesh tones and an expression of devotional intensity. Rubens's characteristic energetic brushwork is tempered here by the contemplative subject, with a palette of muted browns and grays appropriate to the Franciscan habit.

The painting shows some thinning in the darker background areas where Rubens used lean, rapidly applied paint. The figure of Saint Francis retains strong impasto in the highlights. The work has been lined and minor inpainting addresses small paint losses along the edges.