In 1642, at the age of 26, Murillo moved to Madrid. The rich colours and soft modelling that are so characteristic of his later work suggest that he was exposed to works of Venetian and Flemish masters in the royal collections there. In 1645, the painter returned to Seville, where he established his reputation with a series of works featuring Franciscan saints for the convent of San Francisco el Grande, which was allegedly founded by Saint Francis himself in 1217.

In this painting, Murillo depicts Saint Francis later in life, when he spent much of his time meditating on Christ’s suffering. The emphasis on the figure of Saint Francis ties in closely with the aesthetic of the Counter- Reformation, as defined by Ignatius of Loyola, which advocated a more direct and realistic approach to the portrayal of religious subjects. While Murillo uses chiaroscuro to suggest the modelling of Francis, he attenuates the intensity of this portrait with variations in ochres and the surrounding landscape. Murillo revisited this composition, on a somewhat larger scale, circa 1655, in a painting kept in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.

Ruud Priem