Saint Francis by Bernardo Strozzi

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Bernardo Strozzi, known as il Cappuccino (1581–1644), was a central figure of the Italian Baroque, working first in Genoa and later in Venice. Originally a Capuchin friar, Strozzi developed a powerful painterly style characterized by vivid, glowing color and broad, expressive brushwork. His connection to the Capuchin Order deeply shaped his artistic production, inspiring numerous depictions of Saint Francis of Assisi whose life served as a primary spiritual model for the order. Strozzi created works in both fresco and canvas, ranging from history and allegorical scenes to portraits and still lifes, and his influence helped define early Venetian Baroque visual language.

In Saint Francis before the Crucifix, Strozzi presents the saint in a moment of profound and intimate encounter with the suffering Christ. Saint Francis stands before a crucifix, his expression marked by a mixture of astonishment, sorrow, and deep love. His hands are raised in an echo of Christ’s pose, revealing the stigmata: not only the wounds of the nails but the presence of the nail heads themselves, as though Francis too were affixed to a spiritual cross. The setting is dim, as if illuminated by a faint, devotional light at night, heightening the emotional intensity of the scene.

The saint’s brown Capuchin habit appears worn and roughly textured, tied at the waist with a simple rope, emphasizing his embrace of poverty and humility. At the base of the crucifix rests a human skull, a traditional memento mori, inviting contemplation of mortality and salvation. The skull and crucifix sit atop a large rock, which rises to the height of Francis’s waist, supported by smaller stones beneath. The composition draws the viewer’s gaze upward from earthly death, through the saint’s suffering, to the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. The artwork is currently held in the Art Gallery of South Australia (oil on canvas, 124.0 × 92.5 cm).

Study for St Francis of Assisi adoring the cross (1615), black & white chalks on oatmeal paper

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