Saint Francis in Ecstasy (Reni)

St. Francis in Ecstasy is a 1622 oil on canvas painting by Guido Reni, now in the Coppola Chapel (dedicated to the saint depicted) in Girolamini church in Naples, Italy.

[2] The art gallery of the Oratorians of Saint Philip Neri, known as the quadreria dei Girolamini, houses Reni's The Flight into Egypt and Jesus Meets John the Baptist.

The famous clothing designer and rich textile merchant Domenico Lercaro left his whole art collection to the Oratorians in Naples (owners of the Girolamini) and a codicil to his will of 1622 states that Reni had already been paid at that date for three as-yet-undelivered works - one of John the Baptist, one of Saint Dominic and a third whose subject was not stated.

A book of items leaving and joining the congregation between 1628 and 1633 mentions a Reni work arriving from his native Bologna.

[3] All these pieces of evidence led us to presume that St. Francis was part of Lercaro's collection and that it was given to the Oratorians around 1630 and later placed in the chapel where it now hangs.