18th Century French Painting on Canvas in Gilt Frame “Saint Francois en Extase”

$3,200

About

Decorate a wall with this beautiful antique painting. Set in the original carved gilt wood frame, the artwork depicts Saint Francis of Assisi in meditation in a religious ecsatasy. The painting is in excellent condition. While the original by Reni Guido is in the Louvre museum, the painting depicts Francis receiving the stigmata, usually an angel, a seraph or a crucifix emitting rays is depicted as well. Viewers would identify Saint Francis from his habit and from the skull that he typically holds, a reminder of human mortality. His knotted belt was part of the Franciscan habit, and its three knots represent the Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Today on the liturgical calendar is the Feast of St. Francis (1181/1182-1226), the day the Church honors a great friar from Assisi, Italy. He is the patron saint of the environment and animals because he loved all creatures and allegedly preached to even the birds. Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (1181-1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet, and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty, he became a beggar and itinerant preacher. One of the most venerated figures in Christianity, Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228. He is commonly portrayed wearing a brown habit with a rope tied around his waist, featuring three knots symbolizing the three Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the sultan al-Kamil and put an end to the conflict of the Fifth Crusade. In 1223, he arranged for the first live nativity scene as part of the annual Christmas celebration in Greccio. According to Christian tradition, in 1224 Francis received the stigmata during the apparition of a Seraphic angel in a religious ecstasy. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, the Third Order of St. Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Once his community was authorized by Pope Innocent III, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is associated with patronage of animals and the environment. It became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of the fourth of October, which became World Animal Day. He is known for devotion to the Eucharist.[ Along with Catherine of Siena, he was designated patron saint of Italy. He is also the namesake of the American city of San Francisco. 15.5″W x 19.75″H

Additional information