This exhibition brings together for the first time the three paintings by Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán (1590-1664) depicting Saint Francis of Assisi standing mummified.  These works are held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The subject matter of these emblematic works contributes to their singularity, as does their masterly execution. The body of Saint Francis (c. 1182-1226) appears here as Pope Nicholas V (1397-1455) is said to have discovered it in the crypt of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi (Italy) in 1449: standing, eyes open and turned towards heaven, like a living person.  

Present before the French Revolution in Lyon's Convent of the Colinettes, on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse hill, the painting of Saint Francis in Lyon's Musée des Beaux-Arts was the first work by Zurbarán to join the collections of a French museum in 1807. Since then, it has become one of the centrepieces of the museum's  paintings collection and continues to impress visitors with its expressive power and remarkable quality.

This exhibition explores the inspiration and sources of this highly original creation, as well as the prodigious reception of Zurbarán's Saint Francis paintings by artists from the 19th century to the present day. It questions the meaning of the avatars of these three iconic works from the Golden Age, Spain's period of cultural influence in Europe (1492-1681).

The celebration of the beauty of Zurbarán's work, of its "modernity", goes hand in hand with the demonstration of the timelessness of these masterpieces which offer matter for reflection, enjoyment and new creations in every era.