Like other paintings of these years, created on a religious theme, Stigmatization of St. Francis was created for a private customer. Domenico signed the work in the lower left corner. Probably, it was created right after the artist arrived in Rome. El Greco wrote it in the icon-painting technique, carefully working out the details, resulting in an enamel-like appearance.
The painting shows the most striking moment from the life of St. Francis of Assisi, described in the official biography of Saint, the so-called “Big Legend” of Saint Bonaventure.
From the heavens came the seraph with six fiery wings, illuminated the vertex of Verna with a brilliant light, illuminated the mountains and valleys around. After the vision disappeared, stigmata opened on the body of Francis – hands and legs were pierced with nails, black as if of iron, with large round hats, on the left side of the chest a deep bleeding wound gaped, as if from a blow with a spear. Two more years before death, the saint carried stigmata on his body, hiding them from prying eyes.
Stigmatization of St. Francis by Jan van Eyck 
St. Francis in ecstasy by El Greco 
Stigmatization of St. Francis by Giotto 
Ecstasy of St. Francis by Giovanni Bellini 
St. John the Evangelist and Saint Francis of Assisi by El Greco 
Holy Family with Saint Jerome and Saint Francis of Assisi by Costa Lorenzo 
Three sketches of figures at the Crucifixion by Francis Bacon 
The ecstasy of St. Francis by Michelangelo Merisi and Caravaggio