The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This vibrant Holy Family demonstrates the role that the unresolved and sketchy played in Rosso’s work. The connections between the figures have been carefully considered and the surface is alive with the play of light and shadow, but the brush contour lines appear over barely defined forms. We do not know whether this effect was intentional or whether the work was left incomplete, but the relief-like composition and use of such a rough surface is reminiscent of some of Donatello’s sculpture, suggesting that the innovative Rosso may have been seeking to achieve something similar in paint.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
- Artist: Rosso Fiorentino (Italian, Florence 1494–1540 Fontainebleau)
- Date: ca. 1521
- Geography: Country of Origin Italy
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 25 × 16 3/4 in. (63.5 × 42.5 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 in. × 22 3/16 in. × 3 1/8 in. (77.5 × 56.4 × 7.9 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 37.1072
- Rights and Reproduction: © Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art