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Saint Francis Standing in Meditation
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco (Greek, 1541–1614)

Title

Saint Francis Standing in Meditation

Artist

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, called El Greco (Greek, 1541–1614)

Date

c. 1580–85

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

45 1/2 × 40 1/2 in. (115.6 × 102.9 cm)

Classification

Painting

Credit Line

Museum purchase

Object Number

1942.2

On View

On view

Provenance

Ceballos Collection, Madrid [1].
Honorable Miss Edith Butterworth (1898–1974), Southport, England.
With Jacob Hirsch (1874–1955), New York, by January 3, 1942;
Purchased from Jacob Hirsch, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1942.

[1] According to a Moreno photograph, cited in Harold E. Wethey, El Greco and His School (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962), vol. 2, 123.

Exhibition History

El Greco Loan Exhibition, Knoedler Gallery, New York, 1941, no. 3, lent by G. B. Neuman.

Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, December 1941–January 1942.

Loan Exhibition of Masterworks of El Greco, M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, May 1947.

Haggin Memorial Art Galleries, Stockton, CA, June 1947.

Old Masters from Midwestern Museums, Grand Rapids Art Gallery, MI, December 1, 1948–January 2, 1949.

Exhibit of Spanish Paintings, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, OH, October 8–November 14, 1954, no. 7.

Notable Collections at Joslyn, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, November 30, 1956–January 1, 1957.

Six Painters, Milwaukee Art Institute, September 12–October 20, 1957, no. 5.

The Human Image, Houston Museum of Fine Art, October 9–November 23, 1958, no. 36.

Soldiers and Saints in Old and New Spain, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, December 1, 1962–February 10, 1963, no. 13.

Baroque Art: An Era of Elegance, Denver Art Museum, October 3–November 15, 1971.

In New Context: Paintings and Sculpture from the Permanent Collection, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, January 6–March 31, 1973.

El Greco, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, October 18–December 14, 1986; Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan, February 28–March 26, 1987, no. 13.

Titian to Monet: European Paintings from Joslyn Art Museum, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, October 14, 2022–January 8, 2023; Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from Joslyn Art Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, February 22–May 28, 2023.

Published References

“Notable Works of Art now on the Market,” Burlington Magazine (December 1937).

Jose Camón-Anzar, Domenico Greco (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1950), no. 606.

“400-Year-Old Art Favorite,” Omaha World-Herald, September 14, 1952, 6B.

Six Painters, exh. cat. (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Art Institute, 1957), pl. 14.

The Human Image, exh. cat. (Houston: Houston Museum of Fine Art 1958), no. 36.

Philip Gurney, “El Greco’s Art Remembered After 300 Years,” South Omaha Sun, March 30, 1961, 38.

Harold E. Wethey, El Greco and His School, 2 vols. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962), no. 222, vol. 1, 273, (repro.), vol. 2, 123.

Soldiers and Saints of New Spain, exh. cat. (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1962), 10, (repro.).

Great Art Treasures in America’s Smaller Museums (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967), 118, (repro.).

Gianna Manzini and Tiziana Frati, L’opera complete del Greco (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1969), no. 51a.

Baroque Art: An Era of Elegance, exh. cat. (Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1971), 100, (repro.).

José Maria Guidol Ricart, El Greco: Domenikos Theotokopolis, 1541–1614 (London: Secker and Warburg, 1973), no. 88, 151.

Judy van Wagner, “Joslyn to Show El Greco Again,” Omaha World-Herald, August 19, 1973.

John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America, a Comprehensive Guide to Locating and Enjoying over 300 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), 156.

José Manuel Pita Andrade and José Álvarez Lopera, El Greco (Barcelona: Carroggio, 1981), no. 116.

El Greco, exh. cat. (Tokyo: National Museum of Western Art, 1987), 114, (repro.).

Holliday T. Day and Hollister Sturges, eds., Joslyn Art Museum: Paintings & Sculpture from the European & American Collections (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1987), 41–42, 43, (repro.).

Museo del Prado Handbook, Japanese ed. (Museo del Prado and Japan Broadcast Publishing Co., 1992), 64.

José Álvarez Lopera, El Greco: Identity and Transformation, exh. cat. (Milan: Skira, 1999), 405.

Graham W. J. Beal et. al., Fifty Favorites from Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1994), 20–21, (repro.).

Taylor J. Acosta, European Paintings and Sculpture from Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 2020), 22, 64–69, (repro.).