The Death of Saint Francis Xavier (La Muerte de San Francisco Javier)

This work and the painting of Our Lady of the Pillar were completed by Francisco Goya when he returned from Italy. These pleasant scenes painted for his Fuendetodos family—the Lucientes—are suitable for simple and popular devotion.

Saint Francis Xavier was a Society of Jesus missionary in India and Japan. This canvas depicts his death in East Asia. It is inspired by a drawing by Niccolo Bertuzzi, which the young painter saw when he was training at the Luzán Academy in Zaragoza. There is also a preparatory drawing for this painting in Goya's Italian Notebook which shows the saint recumbent, but quite upright, as in the final work.