Saint Francis and the Lay Brother

Saint Francis with a Monk is a painting by the Spanish painter Dominicus Theotocopulos, known as El Greco.

El Greco painted St. Francis many times. He depicted him in various poses of ecstasy, almost always with an inseparable artifact: a corpse skull or a crucifix. According to Harold Wethey's version of St. Francis immersed in prayer from Bilbao is seventeen. From all the images of Francis emanates the spirituality and asceticism of the saint. The image of St. Francis captured from a profile on a dark background and with a still life, which consists of a breviary, a crucifix and a skull, is a new proposal of El Greco in showing Franciscan mysticism. A few years later, El Greco painted, perhaps with the help of another painter, an experimental and thus unusual version of Saint Francis. In drawing and composition, typology and chromatic range, it does not differ from previous versions; the addition is the kneeling figure of the monk behind Francis' back, facing him. The painting is so unusual that no copies or reproductions of it are unknown.