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Stigmatisation of Francis of Assisi
Peter Paul Rubens·1633
Historical Context
Rubens painted the Stigmatization of Francis of Assisi around 1633, depicting the moment when the saint received the wounds of Christ on his hands, feet, and side while praying on Mount Alverna. The Counter-Reformation Church promoted the stigmatization as evidence of divine favor, and Rubens, a devout Catholic, treated the subject with reverent intensity. Now in the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent, the painting demonstrates Rubens's ability to convey supernatural experience through the physical language of Baroque painting — dramatic light, ecstatic gesture, and emotional immediacy.
Technical Analysis
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.
Look Closer
- ◆Saint Francis receives the stigmata from a seraph — the five wounds of Christ appear on his hands, feet, and side as beams of light strike his body
- ◆Francis's ecstatic expression combines agony and rapture, the paradox of receiving divine grace through physical suffering
- ◆Brother Leo witnesses the event from behind, his smaller scale and reaction of awe establishing the miraculous nature of what occurs
- ◆The rocky wilderness setting of La Verna is rendered with atmospheric depth, the remote mountain locale appropriate for mystical experience
Condition & Conservation
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.
