The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 15, 2026

St. Francis Beneath a Tree Praying

1657

Rembrandt van Rijn

(Dutch, 1606–1669)
Netherlands
drypoint and etching
Sheet: 18.1 x 24.5 cm (7 1/8 x 9 5/8 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2024.64
Catalogue raisonné: Bartsch 107; White/Boon second (final) state; Hind 292; New Hollstein 299 second (final) state
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Always experimental, Rembrandt created this print by first sketching in the composition with drypoint and then adding etching in a second stage, which reversed his typical process.

Description

One of Rembrandt’s most spiritually moving works, this drypoint and etching depicts a hermit saint sequestered in the wilderness and praying to a crucifix. A second figure on the right, a monk in bare outline, helps to identify the saint as Francis, who traveled with a friar named Brother Leo. Rembrandt focused on the lush, moody landscape surrounding the crucifix, creating space to the right of the composition by portraying a distant hill and structure. These compositional strategies reveal his knowledge of Venetian landscapes by Titian and others, which he had studied through prints and drawings. But while Rembrandt certainly looked to Italian art for inspiration and ideation, he always transformed what he saw into something distinctive and undeniably of his own invention, infused with the emotion and humanity that we see, for example, on the saint’s active face.
  • Hermann Weber [1817-54], Bonn (stamped verso, Lugt 1383)
    1856
    his sale, Rudolph Weigel, Leipzig, April 28, 1856, lot 207, described as: Pièce capitale, épreuve superbe et pleine de barbes, avec le nom du maître répété. Extrèment rare.
    (sold to Ackermann)
    Rudolph von Seydlitz [1812-70], Pilgramshain, Silesia (stamped twice verso, Lugt 2283)
    1925
    Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Lucerne, June 1925
    1925
    Carl [1871-1941] and Rose Hirschler, née Dreyfus [1886-1963], Haarlem (stamped verso, Lugt 633a), acquired in June 1925
    1925–2007
    by descent until 2007
    (with C.G. Boerner)
    private collection, France
    ?–2024
    (C.G. Boerner, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=St. Francis Beneath a Tree Praying|url=false|author=Rembrandt van Rijn|year=1657|access-date=15 March 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.64