This very stylized...almost cartoonish granite sculpture of St. Francis is 15 feet tall and depicts wearing a monk's robes and hood, smiling with hands spread out and eyes closed as if in prayer. His feet are bare. His stance takes on the appearance of a crucifix.
The work is listed on the Smithsonian Inventory (
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"The figure was carved in Paris, where it stayed in a warehouse for 27 years. Friends of the sculptor transported it to San Francisco in 1955, where it was placed at the Church of St. Francis in North Beach, San Francisco. It was moved to Oakland six years later after much controversy about its placement at the church. It was moved to its present location in 1962 when the San Francisco Bay Area Longshoremen's Memorial Association proposed a permanent location with a park and fountain to surround it on the grounds close to its building near Fisherman's Wharf."
The artist is Beniamino Bufano (1898-1970) and the work is dated 1963.
Wikipedia (
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"Saint Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.
Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he begged with the beggars at St. Peter's. The experience moved him to live in poverty.Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a following. His order was endorsed by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which was an enclosed order for women, as well as the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the order. Once his organization was endorsed by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas manger scene. In 1224, he received the stigmata,[4] making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. He died in 1226 while preaching Psalm 141.
On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint of animals, the environment and one of the two patrons of Italy (with Catherine of Siena), and it is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of 4 October."