The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist

1520–25

Not on view

This delicate composition is full of luminous and atmospheric effects achieved through a masterful use of washes. It depicts the Holy Family with Saint Anne (she is less likely Saint Elizabeth) and the infant Saint John the Baptist seated in a landscape-a "Rest on the Flight into Egypt" with some artistic license. As the drawing exhibits faint traces of squaring, it seems clear that it served as a preparatory modello (demonstration drawing) for a painting or another type of two-dimensional work. The outlines of the figures are confidently sketched, the application of the washes is free and airy, and the landscape is drawn with a suggestive economy of line. The study was probably produced between 1520 and 1525, during the artist's late Roman period. The figural style here still reflects the vocabulary of the late works of Raphael (1483-1520), with whom Polidoro studied, but the monumentality of form and expressiveness of line are fully his own. Born at Caravaggio in Lombardy in northwest Italy, Polidoro was one of the most original artists of his generation working in Rome, Naples, and Sicily.
(Carmen C. Bambach, 2009)

Artwork Details

Title: The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist
Artist: Polidoro da Caravaggio (Italian, Caravaggio ca. 1499–ca. 1543 Messina)
Date: 1520–25
Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and grayish brown wash over black chalk with white heightening, traces of squaring in pen and brown ink (especially evident at lower right and lower left).
Dimensions: sheet: 6 15/16 x 9 in. (17.7 x 22.8 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Joseph F. McCrindle Collection, Bequest of Joseph F. McCrindle, 2008
Object Number: 2009.31.1
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Ornamental Design with Amphore and Antique Style Armor (recto); Sketch with Two Figures (verso), Polidoro da Caravaggio Italian, Pen and brown ink, over traces of black chalk or leadpoint; partial framing line (recto); graphite or leadpoint; pen and brown ink (verso) — Ornamental Design with Amphore and Antique Style Armor (recto); Sketch with Two Figures (verso)
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