St. Francis Beneath a Tree Praying
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From the museum
Rembrandt saturated the dark, inky forest of his Saint Francis beneath a Tree Praying with velvety burr along drypoint lines and deep tone wiped selectively throughout the plate. Instead of the Dutch Reformed Church, this image reflects the vision of the Roman Catholic Church in its emphasis on the lives of the saints and therefore may have been a private commission. The unusually elderly Saint Francis gazes toward a large crucifix, which might be real or imagined, within the forest glade and speaks directly to it. With his head angled and mouth open, Francis is hardly passive in prayer but rather an active advocate of Christianity.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Details
- Maker
- Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606-1669
- Date
- 1657
- Medium
- Etching and drypoint on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- Image/plate: 18.2 × 24.2 cm (7 3/16 × 9 9/16 in.); Sheet: 18.3 × 24.4 cm (7 1/4 × 9 5/8 in.)
- Place of origin
- Holland
- Held by
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · Not on view
- Credit line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
Image: Art Institute of Chicago, CC0
