St Francis by Jose de la Mora

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Saint Francis of Assisi, attributed to José de la Mora between 1680 and 1700

This striking figure of Saint Francis of Assisi steps toward the viewer with one hand pressed to his chest and the other extended to hold a now-absent cross, the focus of his meditative gaze. The seams and weave of his coarse wool habit—worn by the monks of the Franciscan order in obedience to their vow of poverty—are meticulously rendered, and a real knotted cord around his waist functions as the cincture that gathers the robe’s folds. With glass balls for the eyes, real hair for the eyelashes, and bone for the teeth, the sculpture shows off the new levels of hyperrealism that Spanish artists were able to achieve in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.