St. Francis and the Heavenly Melody
Frank Cowper

Kneeling among his birds, St. Francis of Assisi is in a rhapsody listening to the music of Heaven. An angel sits in a tree, perched like a bird, playing the Heavenly melodies.

Although Francis is often co-opted by new age people, the mistake they make is they think Francis loved nature in and of itself. He did not. Francis never confused the Creator with his creation. He loved nature because it was a reflection of the God who made it. He could draw closer to God by caring for the natural world.

This event of Francis listening to an angel is not a biographical incident that we know of. It is instead a beautiful way of explaining Francis by use of a symbol.

The artist was Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958), who was called "The Last of the Pre-Raphaelites." He was a Royal Academy artist, one of the most famous English artists of his day. He did a lot of dreamy and romantic pictures, and later specialized in portraits of people, as his earlier religious and historical themes, the Pre-Raphael work, fell out of fashion. He did numerous Catholic paintings, of which this is one of our favorites. He painted Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth, also in our shop. This one was painted in 1904.

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11", or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. All Approx! Fine art printers do this because the images are almost never the same rectangular ratio of the standard paper sizes. It also gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in a frame without a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - CatholicArtAndJewelry.