Saint Francis. Artist: Federico Barocci (Italian, Urbino ca. 1535-1612 Urbino). Dimensions: 35 3/8 x 30 7/8 in. (89.9 x 78.4 cm); with added strips 35 7/8 x 31 3/8 in. (91.1 x 79.7 cm). Date: ca. 1600-1604.
This canvas is conceived as a meditation on Saint Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226), who is shown in a grotto on Mount La Verna, where he received the stigmata (depicted as protruding nails, in conformity with early Franciscan sources). A key figure in the history of Italian painting, Barocci was close to the Capuchin order, and this deeply felt work must have been intended for a friar or a supporter of the Franciscan order. Barocci was a slow, meticulous painter. His work, with its compositional refinement, its warm humanity and deep expressivity, laid the groundwork for Baroque art.