St. Francis of Assisi is a subject to which El Greco returned again and again. This picture is considered to be the best. It is in the style typical of El Greco’s early years in Toledo.

El Greco painted small-sized pictures with religious subjects throughout his career. After his efforts to win the position of court painter proved unsuccessful, and he also failed to receive the commission for the decoration of Toledo cathedral, El Greco concentrated on producing devotional paintings for private clients and small monasteries. Pictures like this one corresponded to the religious conceptions of the Counterreformation. The faithful were supposed to contemplate and become spiritually absorbed in such paintings. They exercised a powerful spiritual influence on contemporaries and suited the taste of clients in Toledo.