Holy Family with Angels and Saint John
- unknown artist
Unknown artist, Holy Family with Angels and Saint John, 1700-1750. Oil paint on canvas; 53¼ × 48½ in. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Frank Jager, 1978.119.
During the Counter-Reformation, increased emphasis was placed on the humanity and family life of Christ. An iconographic tradition emerged to show the Holy Family encountering the Virgin’s cousin Elizabeth and her young son John the Baptist during their Flight to Egypt. This image shows a variant, with just the Infant St. John present. At center of the composition sits the Christ Child on the lap of his mother, the Virgin Mary. His cousin, the Infant John the Baptist, kneels and kisses Christ’s feet. This detail is found in various early modern European engravings, including by Cornelis Galle II and after paintings by Guido Reni. At left is St. Joseph, holding his characteristic lily and offering the Christ Child a pomegranate, a symbol of resurrection and immortality. Two angels, with the colorful wings typical of Cuzco painting, behold the scene before them. The red flowers at the bottom of the work may be Cantuta buxifolia, a plant native to the valleys of the Andes and held sacred by the Inca. The delicate and sparing use of gold in this work suggests that it was created in the first third of the 1700s.
– Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2022