Orazio Gentileschi
The Stigmatization of Saint Francis

ArtistItalian (Florentine), 1563–1639
CultureItalian
Titles
  • The Stigmatization of Saint Francis
Datec. 1600–1601
PlaceItaly
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsImage: 65 × 45 3/4 in. (165.1 × 116.2 cm)
Frame: 77 1/2 × 57 1/2 in. (196.9 × 146.1 cm)
Credit LineSarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston
Object numberBF.2008.11
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
215 Blaffer Galleries
On view

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Object Type
Description

This monumental painting depicts the moment immediately after Saint Francis received the stigmata (wounds of Christ) in his hand, feet, and side. Supported by an angel, the medieval saint looks upward toward a divine light as tears stream down his face.


Despite the presence of the angel, supernatural elements are suppressed: the vision of Christ that induced the stigmata appears only as a glow in the upper left of the painting. The substantial figures, naturalism, and dramatic treatment of light in this painting reflect Orazio Gentileschi’s encounter with the work of Caravaggio, whose first public commission was unveiled in Rome in 1600. Although Gentileschi was greatly influenced by Caravaggio’s style, the exquisite lavender, pink, scarlet, and blue-green of the angel’s clothing reveal lingering elements of Mannerism in Gentileschi’s work.


ProvenancePrivate collection, Chile; [Sotheby’s, New York, June 3, 1988, lot 72, as by the Roman school, c. 1610]; [Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, 1988]; private collection, 2000; [Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York]; purchased by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, 2008.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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