The drawing is related to a lost sketch by Creti mentioned in two letters dated 1700 from Creti to Count Fava, R. Roli, Donato Creti, Milan, 1967, pp. 79-80. The same sketch was probably that recorded in Fava's inventory in 1745. Another drawing of the same subject is at Munich, A. Emiliani et al., op. cit., no. 124, fig. 241. The Munich drawing is sketchier than the present study, but the compositions of the two sheets are close, except in minor details such as the number of figures.
After the death of Saint Francis his burial place was forgotten, but it was said that he was still standing in the crypt of his church in Assisi, with blood pouring out of his stigmata. In 1449 Pope Nicholas V wanted to visit the crypt of the church and, at five o'clock in the morning, he had a wall opened. On entering the crypt, he saw with the light of the torches, Saint Francis standing on a marble ledge with his eyes raised and his hands joined. The Pope knelt to kiss one of the Saint's stigmata. The verso of the drawing shows the Pope looking down at the Saint's feet, preparing to kiss them.