El Greco Circle

Circle of "EL GRECO"; DOMÉNIKOS THEOTOKÓPOULOS (Candía, Greece, 1541 - Toledo, 1614).
"St. Francis in ecstasy".
Oil on canvas.
It has slight restorations.
Measurements: 52 x 37 cm; 67 x 51 cm (frame).
This work follows the models of the painting attributed to El Greco that is in the artistic collection of the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid (No. 02148). In the painting we observe several of the identifying aspects of El Greco's style, those that endowed his work with a totally personal character. At first glance, the treatment of color stands out above all, which seeks to reflect the intense green of other compositions by the Cretan. El Greco acquired his personal palette during his stay in Venice, between 1567 and 1570. From then on, he would acquire a lively and protagonist color, as well as a loose and agile brushstroke. It is an artificial color, totally anti-classical and mannerist, purely conceptual. His tones are intensely lightened by the light, especially emphasizing his metallic grays and very worked, changing, as we see here in the background and on the face of the character. El Greco's style was fully mannerist, and hence also the lengthening of the canon, which reaches twelve heads, and the twisting of the anatomies, very expressive, which can even border on deformity, although based on the knowledge of classical statuary. In this canvas we see a monumental St. Francis, on a nuanced background, whose balanced proportions indicate that it is a later work by an artist who, possibly, did not know the painter first hand, but that the prestige and influence that the Cretan caused in the Spanish painting of the eighteenth century invites him to follow his guidelines. At the same time, a slightly contorted posture is observed (an element that characterizes the master's paintings, which rejected the classical order and the rigorous formal correctness of the Renaissance, in favor of a more conceptual and expressive art based on complex forms).
As for the subject matter, St. Francis was the son of a wealthy Italian merchant. Baptized as John, he was soon known as "Francesco" (the little Frenchman), because his mother came from that country. His youth was joyful and carefree until the age of twenty-five, when he changed completely and began to dedicate himself to the service of God, practicing the Gospel ideal: purity, detachment and joy in peace. Francesco renounces to the great inheritance received from his parents and decides to live poorly, giving an example of authentic Christianity.