St Francis of Assisi received the stigmata (wounds) of Jesus Christ while praying at La Verna in 1224. These wounds emanated from a vision of a seraph in the form of a cross, and consisted of nail marks on his hands and feet, and a gash in the side of his chest. The stigmata remained until his death two years later and became the defining miracle of St Francis?s life. Palma?s drawing shows the clouds parting to reveal the heavenly apparition which bears light down upon the kneeling Saint. This drawing was a preparatory study for an altarpiece in the Chiesa dell?Angelo Rafaelle in Venice, which Palma completed in the 1620s.
Palma Giovane (Jacopo Palma Il Giovane) (Italian (Venetian), about 1548 - 1628)
Palma was born into a Venetian family of artists. His father Antonio ran a successful workshop, and his great uncle was the renowned painter Palma Vecchio. In spite of this, Palma Giovane was virtually self-taught. In 1567 he caught the eye of the Duke of Urbino, whose patronage allowed him to study in Rome. There, Palma embraced the practice of making preparatory drawings (disegno), a custom that was traditionally associated with central Italy. He returned to Venice in the mid-1570s, where his blend of naturalism and moderate Mannerist exaggeration became popular. Palma?s work increasingly reflected his appreciation of the Venetian masters, particularly Jacopo Tintoretto. Following Tintoretto?s death in 1594, Palma became the city?s leading painter.
