The Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi (also titled St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata) is an oil painting depicting Saint Francis of Assisi, which is attributed to the Spanish painter of Greek descent, Dominikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco.
The work was accidentally discovered in 1964 in Kosów Lacki by and . It is housed in the collection of the and was publicly exhibited only 40 years after its discovery.
Description
The painting, measuring 102 × 75 cm, was created using oil on canvas.
Saint Francis is depicted at the moment he receives the stigmata. He is shown from the knees up, leaning forward, facing three-quarters toward a bright light emanating from the left. Gazing at the sky, he has tears in his eyes. His figure is unnaturally elongated, with his arms outstretched in a gesture of surrender to God. His robe consists of a monk's habit with wide, pleated sleeves and a hooded collar, fastened with a double rope tied in a knot. In the background, the outline of the La Verna mountain is visible. Beneath his right hand, there is a skull – an attribute of vanity. The color palette of the painting is described as cold. This composition, with its radiant light and unusual coloring, portrays Saint Francis in an ecstatic, deeply spiritual manner.
The artist included two light sources in the painting: the first strongly illuminates the figure of Saint Francis, while the second emanates from a cloud just before his face.
In the mid-1970s, Polish cardiologist Professor Jan Kwoczyński published his own hypothesis that the person who posed for the painting Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi suffered from Marfan syndrome – a genetic connective tissue disorder. According to him, this is evidenced by the "spider-like" appearance of the fingers and the shiny lenses of the eyes. He also noted a strong resemblance between the figure of Saint Francis and one of the shepherds in the paintings Adoration of the Shepherds by Jacopo Bassano and Francesco Bassano the Younger, which were created around the same period. This resemblance could suggest that the same person posed for all three paintings. This medical hypothesis is part of the 19th-century speculations about the reasons behind the typically elongated appearance of figures in El Greco's works, but theories regarding the influence of factors outside the artist's conscious intention have met with strong criticism from art experts.
In 2009, the painting's value was estimated at several million dollars, and by 2016, it was valued at 5 million USD.
Fate of the painting
Since 1952 In 1964, and , researchers from the , discovered the painting hanging on the wall of the parish house of the in Kosów Lacki while conducting an inventory of the art monuments of the Sokołów County. The following year, they described the painting in Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce (Catalog of Art Monuments in Poland), attributing it to the workshop of El Greco. Seeking confirmation of their assumptions, they sent a letter to Spanish art historian Josep Gudiol Ricart from Instituto Amatller de Arte Hispánico in Barcelona, who replied:Looking at the photograph of Saint Francis, attached to the letter of November 11, the only thing I can say about the painting, based solely on the photograph, is that it seems to be in good condition. It could be the work of El Greco himself, but I cannot give a final opinion without seeing the canvas in person. I am sorry I cannot be more precise.On 5 May 1966, a documentary about the painting was made for the Polish Film Chronicle and broadcast on May 17 under the title Is It the Real El Greco?.
An article about the discovery of the El Greco painting was published in early March 1967 in , in issues from 3 to 4, under the title Nieznany obraz w Kosowie z serii franciszkańskiej El Greca (The Unknown Painting in Kosów from El Greco's Franciscan Series). Information about the discovery appeared in the press three weeks later, on April 1, initially in three newspapers: on the front page of Trybuna Ludu, in Słowo Powszechne, and in Dziennik Bałtycki. Some other periodicals dismissed the articles as an April Fools' joke.
On 5 April 1967, Wacław Kowalczuk-Kochanowski, the Chief Conservator of Monuments of the Warsaw Voivodeship, entered the painting into the registry of monuments with the following description:The painting "Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi", probably created between 1570 and 1577 in El Greco's workshop, oil on canvas, dimensions 102 × 75 cm, located in the parish house in Kosów, Sokołów Podlaski County, owned by Father Władysław Stępień, residing in Kosów, Sokołów Podlaski County – parish house.At that time, the painting was officially owned by Canon Władysław Stępień, the parish priest of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Kosów Lacki, which reduced the risk of its confiscation by the state, for example, in case of parish debts. On 1 June 1967, the painting was initially examined by Professor Bohdan Marconi and later had its paint layer analyzed by Piotr Rudniewski, who revealed significant overpainting in the upper corner of the artwork. Shortly before his death, Father Stępień made a will, in which he bequeathed the painting to the parish of Kosów.
After his death on 5 February 1968, the painting was almost immediately removed from his room by Bishop and Father Barbasiewicz (acting on the authority and orders of Bishop , the Bishop of Siedlce) and secretly transported to the diocesan curia in Siedlce. On 14 February 1968, after several articles in the press speculated about the painting's fate, church authorities notified the Presidium of the Voivodeship National Council's Department of Culture in Warsaw, the Institute of Art, and the regional conservator of monuments about the actual location of the painting.
On 23 November 1973, the bishop of Siedlce, Jan Mazur, made the decision to conserve the painting. In 1974, various studies (including microchemical, X-ray, and spectrographic analyses) and conservation work were carried out at the Conservation Laboratory in Warsaw. These were performed by Zofia Marconi-Blizińska and under the supervision of Professor Bohdan Marconi. On 13 January 1974, Piotr Rudniewski informed Izabella Galicka and Hanna Sygietyńska that during the examination of the lower part of the painting, an authentic signature of El Greco – Domenikos Theotokopoulos – written in Greek minuscule, was discovered under the false overpainting of the signature A. van Dück. Based on this discovery, and considering the results of all the studies, a three-person commission from the Ministry of Culture and Art, appointed by Minister Józef Tejchma, confirmed on 30 September 1974 that the painting was indeed an original work of El Greco.
At that time, Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi was recognized as one of the six most valuable paintings in Poland. Later, the painting returned to the diocesan curia in Siedlce, from where it was transferred to the Diocesan Museum in 2004. For many years, it was not publicly displayed for security reasons. Church authorities were also concerned that the valuable artwork might be seized by the state or high-ranking members of the Polish United Workers' Party. In the 1970s, Bishop Jan Mazur was questioned by officers of the Security Service about the painting and its storage conditions. Some individuals also proposed purchasing the artwork.
On 1 March 1990, Professor Aleksander Gieysztor, then director of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, requested the loan of the painting for an exhibition in the Royal Chapel between November 5 and December 2 to commemorate the 450th anniversary of El Greco's birth. The request was declined by Bishop Mazur and the diocesan conservator of monuments, Father Tadeusz Kulik, who justified their refusal by citing the Code of Canon Law (canon 1292, § 2).
Since 15 October 2004, Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi has been on permanent display at the Diocesan Museum in Siedlce. This became possible only after the building was adapted to display such a valuable painting, with the costs of adaptation and security systems covered by sponsors – and Mostostal Siedlce. Before 2014, it was viewed by 10,000 to 30,000 museum visitors annually. By March 2009, more than 50,000 people had seen it. In 2014, in connection with the international year of El Greco, the work was shown outside Siedlce for the first time – between September 16 and October 31 at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. From February 11 to 22 March 2015, the painting was exhibited at the EUROPEUM – European Culture Centre in Kraków.
Between June 6 and 18 November 2016, the painting underwent thorough conservation, carried out at the National Museum in Kraków by a team led by chief conservator Janusz Czop. The conservation work included pressing on a backing table, filling in areas where the plaster was missing, remounting the canvas on a new wooden stretcher, varnishing, and retouching the paint layer. The edges of the canvas were uncovered and straightened, which increased the painting's size by 4 cm (width) and 2 cm (height). A false stigma on the habit, which had been added with cobalt blue in the early 19th century, was removed. A new, decorative frame was also made, which also served a protective function. It was also reported that the third word of the signature, epoiei (meaning "he made"), was deciphered, confirming the authorship of El Greco. After conservation, the painting was displayed from November 26 to 4 December 2016 at the Sukiennice Museum.
Residents of Kosów Lacki have long been seeking recognition, through the Kosów Land Association, that according to canon law, Ecstasy of St. Francis of Assisi still belongs to the Kosów parish. The same stance regarding the ownership of the painting was taken in 2004 by the diocesan bishop of Drohiczyn, Antoni Dydycz, while the then-director of the Diocesan Museum in Siedlce, Father Henryk Drozd, referred to the papal bull Totus Tuus Poloniae populus of Pope John Paul II from 25 March 1992 to argue that the painting belongs to the Siedlce curia. On 1 February 2007, the Apostolic Nunciature to Poland issued a certificate stating that from the perspective of canon law, the painting remains the property of the parish in Kosów Lacki.
Before 1952 The fate of the painting before 1952 remains unclear. Various accounts exist, but their credibility has been questioned.
Elżbieta Przegalińska's version According to Elżbieta Przegalińska, a resident of Łódź who gave interviews to two local newspapers in 1974 (Dziennik Łódzki in May and the socio-cultural weekly Odgłosy in November), the painting was in Spain in the early 19th century. In 1808, Walenty Skórzewski – her great-great-grandfather, a colonel of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw and owner of estates in Pogrzybów, Raszkówek (now part of Moszczanka), and Szczury near Ostrów Wielkopolski – purchased the painting in Spain for a significant sum during his travels in England, Portugal, and Spain. He brought it to Poland, where it was placed in the palace in Pogrzybów (now part of the neighboring village of Przybysławice).
After Walenty D. Skórzewski's death in 1846, the painting was inherited by his son Arnold Skórzewski, who moved it to Łabiszyn in Bromberg of the Grand Duchy of Posen. In 1862, Arnold's son, Kazimierz Skórzewski, inherited the painting and took it to his estate in Raszkówek.
On 16 April 1904, Kazimierz D. Skórzewski presented the painting as a wedding gift to his son Stanisław (Elżbieta Przegalińska's father) and his bride during their wedding at Wawel Cathedral. From then on, the painting was kept in the palace in Popowiczki. Due to its deteriorated condition, the Skórzewskis entrusted the painting to a painter and conservator from Poznań named Krajewski in 1912. Krajewski repainted about two-thirds of the painting, which altered its colors.