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Domenico Theotokópoulos, called El Greco

Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation

c. 1595–c. 1600
Oil on canvas
92 × 74 cm (36.2 × 29.1 in)

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● On view now — Gallery 206

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · verified July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Saint Francis appears here surrounded by symbols associated with his sainthood. The book, for example, speaks to his devotional studies, and the skull is a reminder of the inevitability of death. The painting prompts the viewer to meditate upon the saint in the same way that he prays before the sculpture of Christ. At least a dozen other versions of this composition by El Greco exist, evidence of Francis’s tremendous popularity in Toledo, Spain, where he made his career.

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