Incident from the Life of St. Francis
Ca. 1600.Not on display
This is a good drawing by an accomplished Florentine hand, active around 1600, possibly Passignano, though the style seems too highly finished to be his. In some respects, the meticulous handling is closer to that of Ligozzi (1547-1627). The saint, who appears standing in profile to the right, is evidently the same as the one in the drawing D3039. Here he is shown with a vision of the cross above his head as he looks upwards towards a moon over a walled city, while a dragon, presumably symbolizing the torment of the citizens, expires before the city´s ramparts.
Turner, Nicholas, From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Chicago, Art Services International, 2008, p.345
