# St Francis in Meditation [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CARAVAGGIO]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 128 x 97 cm ## Commentary St Francis in Meditation c. 1606 Oil on canvas, 128 x 97 cm Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome The founder of the Franciscan Order was the first person to experience the miracle of stigmatization of his own body. In other words, he was marked out by Christ's wounds. Here he is reduced to the ideal state of penance in the wilderness - a state equally valid for saints and pious people. Caravaggio shows no sign of reinterpreting the story unconventionally. His rather traditional approach may derive from the fact that the composition is probably a commission from the papal family. They owned the township known as Carpineto, from where an almost identical second version, stored at present in the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, originated. Stylistically, the painting is very closely related to the Brera Supper in Emmaus, which was probably painted in Latium. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 33 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/18\_cent/haydn\_m\_mass.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Michael Haydn: St Francis Mass</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Amor Victorious \(detail\)]() - [Amor Victorious]() - [Bacchus \(detail\)]() - [Bacchus \(detail\)]() - [Bacchus]() - [Basket of Fruit]() - [Beheading of Saint John the Baptist \(detail\)]() - [Beheading of Saint John the Baptist \(detail\)]() - [Beheading of Saint John the Baptist \(detail\)]() - [Beheading of Saint John the Baptist]() - [Boy Bitten by a Lizard \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()