Ecstasy of Saint Francis

Originally placed on an altar on the left in the church of Aracoeli in Vicenza, the painting used to face, as though in a dialogue, another grandiose work, the Immaculate Conception by Giambattista Tiepolo (now also in Palazzo Chiericati, Inv. A 107). After removal from its original location, the painting by Piazzetta was first hung in the choir of the church (1884), where it suffered severe decay, and later (1911) taken down and restored in the Vicenza Civic Art Gallery.

It is one of the greatest masterpieces by the Venetian artist, leader of the realistic, dramatic current of the "tenebrosi” who worked in chiaroscuro, formed in opposition to the luminous current of the “chiaristi”.

After having achieved an extraordinary dramatic charge and a considerable intensity of expression in his works of the second decade of the eighteenth century, Piazzetta lightens his palate in the paintings of the Twenties, creating striking effects of light and chiaroscuro. The painting in the Gallery in Vicenza is a fine example of this; painted in 1729, it depicts a scene with a strong emotional impact. The spectator almost experiences a sense of dizziness, following the zigzag movement on which the composition is built up: his gaze, starting from the figure of Brother Leo, the biographer of Saint Francis, and from the strongly foreshortened and powerfully lit image of the skull, goes up following the suffering body of the saint supported by the angel, till it reaches the flash of divine light that illuminates the dark sky. The afflicted face of Saint Francis is the fulcrum of the whole work. The saint experiences on his own body the sufferings of the Crucifixion and his immediate identification with the figure of Christ is indicated by the cross formed where his arm meets that of the angel.

The colour scheme of the work is focussed on a rich variety of brown tones brightened by the light, which reaches its maximum intensity in the mantle of the angel and in the cloth with which he applies pressure to the wound on the saint’s side.