Francisco de Zurbarán, 'Saint Francis in Meditation', 1635-9
About the work
Overview
This is one of Zurbarán’s most austere and intensely spiritual works. Saint Francis is shown kneeling in fervent prayer, his clasped hands cradling a skull. Shadow obscures his face, giving us only a glimpse of his features. He wears the robe of the Franciscans, the religious order he founded in the thirteenth century; its patched and tattered appearance draws to mind the vow of poverty taken by all the order’s members.
Zurbarán shows the saint in a moment of profound contemplation, his head tilted upwards and mouth slightly open. The skull is a symbol of death and refers to Christ’s crucifixion. Meditation on death was particularly favoured by the Jesuits, and saints contemplating skulls are frequently found in seventeenth-century Italian and Spanish painting.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Saint Francis in Meditation
- Artist dates
- 1598 - 1664
- Date made
- 1635-9
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 152 × 99 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1853
- Inventory number
- NG230
- Location
- Room 30
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 17th-century Spanish Frame
Provenance
Acquired in Spain for King Louis-Philippe ca. 1835–7 and exhibited with the Galerie Espagnole at the Louvre, 1838–48. Louis-Philippe sale, London, 6 May sqq., 1853 (lot 50; £265), bought for the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised by Allan Braham, ‘ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Spanish School’, London 1988; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2009The Discovery of Spain: British Artists and Collectors, Goya to PicassoÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â of Scotland18 July 2009 - 11 October 2009
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2009The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600–1700ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â (London)21 October 2009 - 24 January 2010ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â of Art (Washington DC)28 February 2010 - 31 May 2010Museo Nacional de Escultura28 June 2010 - 17 October 2010
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2013Divine BodiesLaing Art Gallery6 June 2013 - 29 September 2013
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2019Art and Empire: The Golden Age of SpainThe San Diego Museum of Art18 May 2019 - 2 September 2019
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2023Saint Francis of AssisiÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â (London)6 May 2023 - 30 July 2023
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2024Zurbarán. Reinventing a MasterpieceMusée des Beaux-Arts (Lyon)5 December 2024 - 2 March 2025
Bibliography
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1838Musée du Louvre, Notice des tableaux de la galerie espagnole exposés dans les salles du Musée royal au Louvre, Paris 1838
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1848W. Stirling-Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain, London 1848
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1853R. Ford, 'Sale of Louis-Philippe's Spanish Pictures', The Athenaeum, 1853
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1853Christie, Manson & Woods, Catalogue of the First Portion of the Pictures Forming the Celebrated Spanish Gallery of His Majesty the Late King Louis Philippe, London, 6 May 1853 - 7 May 1853
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1863C. Gueullette, Les peintres espagnols, Paris 1863
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1869C. Blanc, Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles: École espagnole, Paris 1869
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1918H. Kehrer, Francisco de ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô, München 1918
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1920C.J. Holmes, 'Spanish Painting at Burlington House', The Burlington Magazine, XXXVII/213, 1920, pp. 269-76
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1939J.S. Plaut, 'St. Francis by ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô', Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, XXXVII/219, 1939
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1952Maclaren, Neil, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Spanish School, London 1952
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1961P. Guinard, '´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô en France', Revista de estudios extremeños, XVII, 1961
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1963R.T. MartÃn, ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô: El pintor gótico del siglo XVII, Seville 1963
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1970N. MacLaren and A. Braham, The Spanish School, 2nd edn, London 1970
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1972I.H. Lipschutz, Spanish Painting and the French Romantics, Cambridge MA 1972
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1973E. Young, 'An Unknown "St Francis" by Francisco de ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô', The Burlington Magazine, CXV/841, 1973, pp. 245-7
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1976F. Haskell, Rediscoveries in Art: Some Aspects of Taste, Fashion and Collecting in England and France, London 1976
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1977J. Gállego and J. Gudiol, ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô 1598-1664, London 1977
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1980J. Mills and R. White, 'Analyses of Paint Media', ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Technical Bulletin, IV, 1980, pp. 65-7
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1980ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â, March 1980 - December 1980', ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Technical Bulletin, V, 1981
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1981J. Baticle and C. Marinas, Notes et documents des Musées de France. La Galerie Espagnole de Louis-Philippe au Louvre, 1838-1848, Paris 1981
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1981A. Braham, El Greco to Goya: The Taste for Spanish Paintings in Britain and Ireland (exh. cat. ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â, 16 September - 9 November 1981), London 1981
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1982I.H. Lipschutz, 'Théophile Gautier, le musée espagnol, et ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô', in Actes du Colloque International Théophile Gautier: L'Art et l'artiste, Montpellier 1982, vol. 1
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1987J. Baticle, ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 22 September - 13 December 1987; Grand Palais, 14 January - 11 April 1988), New York 1987
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1988Maclaren, Neil, revised by Allan Braham, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The Spanish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1988
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1991J. Brown, Francisco de ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô, concise edn, New York 1991
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1994M.L. Caturla and O. Delenda, Francisco de ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô, Paris 1994
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1998T. de Antonio et al., ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô al Museu nacional d'art de Catalunya (exh. cat. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, 1998), Barcelona 1998
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2002C. Letta, 'Francisco de ´Ü³Ü°ù²ú²¹°ùá²Ô e la spiritualità mistica', Polittico, II, 2002, pp. 37-51
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2002G. Tinterow and G. Lacambre, Manet / Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish painting (exh. cat. Musée d'Orsay, 16 September 2002 - 12 January 2003; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 25 February - 8 June 2003), Paris 2002
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2005V. Pomarède et al., Corot: Naturaleza, emoción, recuerdo (exh. cat. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 27 June - 11 September 2005), Madrid 2005
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2008A. Luxenberg, The Galerie Espagnole and the Museo Nacional, 1835-1853: Saving Spanish Art, or the Politics of Patrimony, Aldershot 2008
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2009X. Bray et al., The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600-1700 (exh. cat., ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â, London; ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â of Art, Washington), London 2009
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Library.
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