Home Online catalogues Studi & Schizzi 15. Jacopo Chimenti, called Jacopo da Empoli Florence circa 1554 – 1640 Florence A Monk Kneeling, in Profile to the Left: Saint Francis, circa 1590 With broad, firm strokes, Jacopo da Empoli made this study for the figure of St Francis in his Assumption, painted in about 1590 (Convento dei Servi, Florence). The artist has lent the character a remarkable feeling of piety. As he kneels humbly, the saint’s hands are joined in prayer. This gesture, and the almost palpable tension of his intertwined fingers, express the figure’s concentrated fervour. He raises his eyes to the heavens where the Virgin stands in triumph in the painting. The upward movement of the composition, and the importance given to the representation of St Francis are both typical features of the art of the Counter-Reformation to which Empoli subscribed.
With broad, firm strokes, Jacopo da Empoli made this study for the figure of St Francis in his Assumption, painted in about 1590 (Convento dei Servi, Florence). The artist has lent the character a remarkable feeling of piety. As he kneels humbly, the saint’s hands are joined in prayer. This gesture, and the almost palpable tension of his intertwined fingers, express the figure’s concentrated fervour. He raises his eyes to the heavens where the Virgin stands in triumph in the painting. The upward movement of the composition, and the importance given to the representation of St Francis are both typical features of the art of the Counter-Reformation to which Empoli subscribed.