Passage from the Life of Saint Francis
Second half of the XVII century.Not on display
On the shore, Saint Francis receives a young man dressed in a black habit, ruff collar and hat, whom Christ carries over the water. In the background: a boat and an embankment with two figures.
This canvas is from the Carmelite convent of San Hermenegildo in Madrid, where, without describing it, Ponz lists it as a work by Cabezalero paired with another, now at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, that is, however, signed by Claudio Coello: Two large paintings by Cabezalero that represent Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Peter of Alcantara. The inventory of paintings that the Convent put up for sale in 1786 attributes both to Claudio Coello and describes the present work as Saint Francis of Assisi in a vision where Christ shows him a priest whose vows he did not want to accept. There have been posterior efforts to identify the young student or priest, who appears to be walking on water with Christ´s support, as Count Orlando de Cattani, Lord of Chiusi and owner of Monte Alvernia, where Saint Francis had his visions and received the stigmata.
Today, this notable work´s attribution to Cabezalero seems unquestionable. The face and hands are depicted with his peculiar technique, and while the color is somewhat more muted—it is unified in the range of golden chestnut—his light effects are very characteristic, for example, in the background among the trees and the treatment of Christ´s right foot.
This was one of the paintings chosen for the Musée Napoléon and is certainly the Saint Francis Speaking with Jesus Christ that appears attributed to Carreño in the inventory of paintings returned by France in 1815 after the conclusion of the Napoleonic incidents. It was at the Academy of San Fernando until 1901, when it entered the Museo del Prado.
