The Ecstasy of St. Francis is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, who started this painting in 1475 and finished it around 1480. It is now housed in the Frick Collection in New York City, displayed prominently in what was Henry Clay Frick's living room. This painting is oil on panel, which recalls Mantegna. Still in very good condition, though it has been cut down, it has otherwise apparently been well-cared for since its creation. The work is signed IOANNES BELLINUS on a small rumpled carta visible in the lower left corner. It portrays St. Francis of Assisi in... ecstasy whether receiving the stigmata, as Millard Meiss suggested, or, as the saint's mouth is open and his face lifted to the sky, perhaps singing his Canticle of the Sun, as Richard Turner has argued. The representation is a fresh one; it corresponds to no specific legend of the saint's life known to be circulating in the fifteenth century, nor does it follow any of the established iconographic motifs. In the left middle-ground is an immobile donkey which can be interpreted as a symbol of humility and patience, but also of laziness, stupidity or obstinacy.
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