St. Francis

St. Francis, at the El Paso Museum of Art, depicts the founder of the Franciscan order in a devotional panel format—either as an individual panel or as a wing from a larger altarpiece program—capturing Francis's characteristic posture of prayerful contemplation. Vittore Crivelli's version of the Franciscan saint would have been produced for the extensive Franciscan network of patrons in the Marche, where the order had strong roots and where Vittore's workshop was primarily active.

Francis is shown with his characteristic brown Franciscan habit and tonsure, his hands displayed to show the stigmatic wounds that identify him as a saint uniquely configured in Christ. Vittore's handling of the habit's rough woolen texture contrasts deliberately with the precious metalwork and embroidery he lavishes on episcopal and regal figures elsewhere in his output.