17th C Saint Francis in Ecstasy, Flemish School

During the Counter Reformation, the traditional cult of saints was encouraged and spiritual exercises were recommended to come closer to God. On the painting, St. Francis has an ecstatic encounter with God. The upward gaze of his large eyes captures this mystical moment. The skull and the book symbolize the brevity of life. Here, St. Francis is not portrayed with stigmata on his hands, something that can be found, for example, in paintings of St. Francis in ecstasy by El Greco. The subject of St. Francis in ecstasy seems to have been especially popular in Italian and Spanish art. In those pious countries there was a predilection for dramatic religious experience. Just think of Francisco de Zurbarán who presented numerous saints in a state of exaltation. In the Low Countries painters as Anthony Van Dyck and Rubens also painted Saint Francis in ecstasy or with his stigmata. Normally the scene of the ecstatic saint takes place in nature. Most artists therefore indicated a landscape in their paintings. Here, an almost monochrome dark background has been chosen. It facilitates meditation and reflection.