# Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation

- By: Domenico Theotokópoulos, called El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos; Greek, active in Spain, 1541–1614)
- Date: c. 1595–c. 1600
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 92 × 74 cm (36 3/16 × 24 1/8 in.); Framed: 112.4 × 94.6 × 8.9 cm (44 1/4 × 37 1/4 × 3 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Greece
- Credit line: Robert A. Waller Memorial Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/21907)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/b703b636-976c-b35b-8a8e-f8df3f5ba003/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0