Circle of Doménikos Theotokópoulos "El Greco", séc.XVII (1st quarter) Saint Francis of Assis Oil on canvas (restoration) The artistic style developed by Doménikos Theotokópoulos “El Greco” (1541-1614) rests on the primacy of imagination and intuition over the subjective character of the artwork creative process.Devoid of classical criteria, it is through the abundance of colour that the artist achieves a very personal style, characterised essentially by unsettling and violent works of apparent careless execution. This painting displays evident characteristics of El Greco’s mature phase, a time when the artist produced three additional depictions of Saint Francis. One of these, in which Saint Francis of Assis is accompanied by Saint Andrew (ca.1600), belongs to the Prado Museum collection. A second, in this instance with John The Evangelist (ca.1600), can be seen at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence while a third one, a Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation (1595-1600) belongs to the Art Institute Chicago. According to the Greek art historian Professor Nicos Hadjinicolaou (b. 1938), and expert in the work of “El Greco”, the present work is a 17th century Spanish replica, and therefore a notable iconographic example that confirms the consistent historic interest that El Greco’s works aroused a few years after his death. In addition, two “Old Master” specialists, who had the opportunity to observe and analyse the work, consider it as from the circle of El Greco. 82,5x64,5 cm Circle of Doménikos Theotokópoulos "El Greco", séc.XVII (1st quarter) Saint Francis of Assis Oil on canvas (restoration) The artistic style developed by Doménikos Theotokópoulos “El Greco” (1541-1614) rests on the primacy of imagination and intuition over the subjective character of the artwork creative process.Devoid of classical criteria, it is through the abundance of colour that the artist achieves a very personal style, characterised essentially by unsettling and violent works of apparent careless execution. This painting displays evident characteristics of El Greco’s mature phase, a time when the artist produced three additional depictions of Saint Francis. One of these, in which Saint Francis of Assis is accompanied by Saint Andrew (ca.1600), belongs to the Prado Museum collection. A second, in this instance with John The Evangelist (ca.1600), can be seen at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence while a third one, a Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation (1595-1600) belongs to the Art Institute Chicago. According to the Greek art historian Professor Nicos Hadjinicolaou (b. 1938), and expert in the work of “El Greco”, the present work is a 17th century Spanish replica, and therefore a notable iconographic example that confirms the consistent historic interest that El Greco’s works aroused a few years after his death. In addition, two “Old Master” specialists, who had the opportunity to observe and analyse the work, consider it as from the circle of El Greco. 82,5x64,5 cm