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Description: | The image of St Francis kneeling in a wooded landscape with arms outstretched occurs either in the context of his frequent retreats into remote places to meditate on Christ's Passion and the spiritual ecstacy that he experienced, or the specific occasion at La Verna in Umbra, when a seraph appeared to him and imparted the stigmata, the wounds of Christ's Crucifixion. The absence of the seraph suggests that this simply shows the saint in ecstatic prayer. Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (1606-1680) was an Italian architect and painter, named Il Bolognese from the place of his birth. He was a relative of the Caracci family, under whom it is presumed he first apprenticed. He successfully combined great distinction as an architect, serving several popes, with painting; he was afterwards a pupil of Cardinal Francesco Albani. He went to Rome, and was appointed architect to Pope Paul V and also patronized by succeeding popes. In about 1648 he was invited to France by Cardinal Mazarin, and for about two years was employed in buildings for that minister and for Louis XIV, and in fresco-painting in the Louvre. His colour was strong, somewhat excessive in the use of green; his touch light. He painted history, portraits and landscapes and executed engravings and etchings from his own landscapes and from those of Titian and the Carracci. Returning to Rome, he was made principe (director) of the Accademia di San Luca. | Subjects: | religion (St Francis) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Grimaldi, Giovanni Francesco (Italian painter, printmaker, and architect,1606-1680) Æ Attributed to | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8343... | Go to resource |
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