The Vision of Saint Francis in the Portiuncula

The chapel in the title is a real building, small enough to stand inside a later church at Assisi. Franciscans call it the Portiuncula, and the story attached to it is that Francis, praying there, saw Christ and the Virgin appear and asked them for a pardon for everyone who came to the place. The pardon was granted, and for centuries pilgrims walked to that one room on the second day of August to claim it.

What Murillo paints is the vision itself. Roses are scattered across the floor, angels fill the upper half, and the light works as the joint between the ordinary room and the space where the apparition hangs. The Prado's own description puts it that way, listing flowers, angels, clouds and light as the painter's instruments.

The canvas is large, 206 centimetres by 146, and the Prado dates it between 1670 and 1680. Carlos IV bought it, and by the palace inventory of 1814 to 1818 it was hanging in the green chimney room.