Stigmatisation of Francis of Assisi

The Stigmatization of Francis of Assisi (c. 1633) at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent is a monumental altarpiece depicting the most significant mystical event in Francis's life: the reception of the stigmata on Mount Alverna in 1224, where the wounds of Christ appeared on his hands, feet, and side during an extended contemplative vigil. The Counter-Reformation Church promoted the stigmatization as incontrovertible evidence of divine favor — a miracle of physical transformation that no rational explanation could account for — and Rubens's treatment brings to the subject the full resources of his Baroque dramatic style: the divine light descending from above, the saint's ecstatic receptivity, the angel who mediates between heaven and earth. By 1633 Rubens was producing fewer large ecclesiastical commissions but those he did undertake — like this Ghent altarpiece — demonstrate his mature mastery. The Museum of Fine Arts Ghent holds this work alongside its exceptional collection of Flemish painting from Jan van Eyck through the seventeenth century, placing Rubens within the full sweep of the tradition he had transformed.

The nocturnal scene is dramatically lit by the supernatural radiance of the seraph, creating powerful contrasts. Rubens' warm flesh tones and the ecstatic expression of the saint convey the mystical intensity of the experience.

This late depiction of Francis's stigmatization from 1633 has been conserved over the centuries. The dramatic lighting effects essential to the subject have been preserved. The canvas has been relined and the paint surface stabilized where age-related cracking occurred.