Saint Francis of Assisi Adoring the Virgin and Child

1607·Black chalk on blue laid paper·52.1 × 31.2 cm (20 9/16 × 12 5/16 in.)

<p>This monumental drawing shows Denys Calvaert’s nearly final conception for an altarpiece. The artist made a few intriguing changes before completing the painting. He replaced a child in the lower left of the drawing with an older saint figure, covered the Christ Child’s genitalia, and shifted Saint Francis’s head toward the center of the composition.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1607
Medium: Black chalk on blue laid paper
Dimensions: 52.1 × 31.2 cm (20 9/16 × 12 5/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Denys Calvaert

Artist

Denys Calvaert

Drawing

Denys Calvaert was a Flemish painter and printmaker active in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, known for religious narratives rendered in a Mannerist idiom that bridged Northern European and Italian traditions. Based in Antwerp and later Bologna, he produced altarpieces, devotional panels, and engravings that circulated widely across Catholic Europe. His workshop trained numerous artists who would carry Mannerist principles into the following generation.

Antwerp, Belgium

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