St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy

This 1638 Saint Francis in ecstasy, now in Mexico's Museo Soumaya, was likely among works shipped to Spanish colonial markets where demand for devotional paintings was enormous. Zurbarán's workshop maintained a significant export trade with the Americas throughout the 1630s and 1640s. Zurbarán's austere, powerfully meditative style—white-robed monks in intense chiaroscuro, saints presented against dark backgrounds with sculptural solidity—made him the ideal painter for the Counter-Reformation religious orders of Extremadura and Seville.

The ecstatic saint is shown with upturned face and eyes closed, bathed in celestial light against profound darkness. The Franciscan habit is rendered with characteristic textural realism despite the mystical subject.