The Vision of Saint Francis
1581
Medium
Etching and engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
53.8 × 32.4 cm (21 3/16 × 12 13/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
18679
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this dramatic etching, Saint Francis of Assisi kneels in an ecstatic trance, with his palms outstretched toward the vibrant holy host he envisions above him. This print reproduces the painted altarpiece that Federico Barocci completed in 1576 for the church of San Francesco, Urbino. The setting of the chapel in which the altarpiece still hangs is included in this composition. The print, though technically reproductive, transcends didactic repetition through the graphic zeal of Barocci’s etche...
About the Artist
Federico Barocci · 1535–1612
Federico Barocci (c. 1535–1612) was an Italian painter from Urbino whose luminous, emotionally tender religious paintings made him one of the most original and influential artists of the late sixteenth century, bridging Mannerism and the early Baroque. Born in Urbino, the city of Raphael, he studied under Battista Franco and traveled to Rome, where he absorbed the lessons of Raphael, Correggio, an...