Part II – Saint Francis before the Crucified Christ: A Devotional Postcard (1891–1918)
Saint Francis before the Crucified Christ — Devotional Postcard after Rubens
Printed by Josef Löwy, Vienna
1905–1910
Intaglio print on cardboard, mounted as a leporello postcard
This devotional postcard reproduces the powerful composition of Peter Paul Rubens depicting Saint Francis of Assisi kneeling before the Crucified Christ. The image presents the saint in a moment of profound contemplation as he gazes upward toward the body of Christ on the Cross. Even in this small printed format, the dramatic gesture of Francis and the solemn presence of the Crucifix remain central to the scene.
The postcard was produced in Vienna by the photographer and publisher Josef Löwy, whose firm was active between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using intaglio printing techniques, the image translates Rubens’s original Baroque painting into a monochrome reproduction suitable for wide circulation. Such postcards were often collected, exchanged, or preserved in albums, allowing sacred images that once existed only in churches or collections to reach a much broader audience.
Although the rich color palette of Rubens’s original painting is absent in this black-and-white print, the essential composition remains clearly recognizable. The kneeling figure of Saint Francis, the towering Cross, and the distant hill with a second cross all echo the dramatic arrangement created by Rubens in the seventeenth century. The reduction to monochrome gives the image a softer, almost meditative quality, emphasizing line and contrast rather than color.
This postcard also serves as a reminder of how influential Rubens’s religious imagery remained centuries after it was first painted. As discussed in the previous post on the original painting, Rubens captured the intense Franciscan devotion to the Passion of Christ. Through reproductions like this one, that same contemplative image continued to circulate among the faithful well into the modern era.
An interesting detail that helps approximate the date of this postcard can be found on its reverse side. At the top appears the word “POSTKARTE,” along with a vertical line dividing the space intended for the message from the area reserved for the address. This format, known as the divided back postcard, became common in many European countries around 1904–1905, when postal regulations began allowing messages to be written on the same side as the address. Before that time, the entire back of the card was reserved exclusively for the address, and any message had to be written on the image side. For this reason, the postcard is unlikely to date from earlier than about 1905.
The card also identifies the publisher, Josef Löwy, whose Vienna publishing house produced numerous photographic reproductions of artworks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His publications frequently included Old Master paintings reproduced as postcards using intaglio or collotype printing techniques on matte card stock. This type of monochrome reproduction was especially common in museum postcards produced between roughly 1900 and 1910 in Austria and Germany. Considering these characteristics, the postcard was likely produced around 1905–1910, and it would be reasonable to catalogue it approximately c. 1905–1908. Even the title printed beneath the image, “Rubens, Der heilige Franciscus am Fuße des Kreuzes,” appears in German, suggesting that the postcard was primarily intended for the Central European market—something quite typical of Viennese publishers who reproduced works by Old Masters such as Peter Paul Rubens.
Compra 2 imágenes restauradas, incluyendo la de esta publicación, ahora con descuento
This image is a public domain image, which means either that copyright has expired in the image or the copyright holder has waived their copyright. Franciscan Gallery charges for the access to high resolution copy of the image. Manually restoration was necessary in order to improve quality, without covering the original image.
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