Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
Sizes
About this painting
The angel holds Francis the way angels hold the dead Christ, an embrace borrowed from Veronese. It has only two wings, not the six-winged seraph of the legend: plainly dressed, almost human. At his side, only a faint mark, no blood, no wounded hands.
Barely visible in the dark behind them, Brother Leo and shepherds watch a strange light fill the sky. The picture never hung on an altar; a private devotion, it belonged to Ottavio Costa, banker to the papal court. E. Peters Bowron calls it the first religious picture Caravaggio ever painted.
Sources: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, object/loan documentation PDF · Caravaggio.org, "Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, 1595" · Nicholas Hall, "Caravaggio in America – Part 2"
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 7,832 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.