Circle of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco (circa 1541-1614)

Details

Circle of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco (circa 1541-1614)

Saint Francis of Assisi and Fra Leone contemplating mortality

oil on canvas
66 x 38¼in. (167.5 x 97cm.)

Provenance

Luis Navas, Madrid, by 1902.
Private Collection, Paris.
with Reinhardt Galleries, New York, 1920.
Parson Collection, London, 1931.
Anon. Sale, Sotheby's, London, July 30, 1937 The Hon. Christine Churchill, London.
Jacob Heinmann, Los Angeles.
with French and Co., New York, 1956.
with Galerie Karger, Caracas, 1967.
Anon. Sale (an Educational Institution), Sotheby's, New York, Oct. 21, 1988, lot 118.

Literature

S. Viniegra, Exposicion de las obras del Greco: Catalogo, 1902, no. 35.
A.L. Mayer, Pantheon, V, 1930, p. 184, illustrated.
H.E. Wethey, El Greco and His School, 1962, II, p. 233, no. X-329 (as a seventeenth century copy).
G. Manzini and T. Frati, L'Opera Completa del Greco, 1969, p. 117, no. 132p.

Lot Essay

The prime signed version of the present composition, executed circa 1600-1605, is in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. S. Viniegra and A.L. Mayer both attribute the present work to El Greco, while H.E. Wethey describes it as a 17th century copy after the version in the Colegio del Patriaca, Valencia, which he attributes to El Greco's workshop. The existence of some twenty eight versions, replicas and copies of this composition attests to its status as one of El Greco's most acclaimed representations of Saint Francis. While recorded by Wethey as being of slightly larger dimensions as early as 1937 (1.73 x 1.00cm.), the present painting has been slightly reduced and is now of approximately the same size as the autograph work in Ottawa.