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The Holy Family with Angels

1603–5
Not on view
This powerful drawing with the Virgin Mary, St Joseph and the Christ Child accompanied by angels was first published in 1952 by Philip Pouncey, who recognized it as a study for Roncalli's painting of ‘The Holy Family’ now in the Galleria Borghese, Rome (Inv. 330). The painting and the related drawing are datable to ca. 1603-1605. Drawn in black chalk, this sheet represents a bold example of Roncalli’s draftsmanship at the dawn of the seventeenth century, inspired by the monumentality of Michelangelo and Giuseppe Cesari, Cavaliere d’Arpino. The indented lines on the recto of the sheet and the extensive rubbing with black chalk dust on the verso of the paper are both signs of the ‘calco’ technique – a practice adopted to copy or transfer the design onto a secondary support to produce model drawings of identical scale. In 1964 Jacob Bean found a second study in Florence (GDSU, inv. 15428 F; 38.7 x 27.3 cm) for the same painting. In contrast to the Museum’s drawing, the Florentine composition is worked out in black, red, and white chalk on blue paper ( repr. in ‘Disegni dei toscani a Roma, 1580-1620', Florence, 1979, no. 27). The composition of the two preparatory drawings also differs in a number of details, and both, in turn, differ slightly from the painting in Rome. (F.R.)

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Holy Family with Angels
  • Artist: Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli) (Italian, Pomarance ca. 1553–1626 Rome)
  • Date: 1603–5
  • Medium: Black chalk highlighted with white chalk on blue paper
  • Dimensions: 14 1/8 x 10 5/8 in. (35.9 x 27 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Pfeiffer Fund, 1962
  • Object Number: 62.120.4
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Study for Lower Part of Torso and Legs of a Young Boy, Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli) Italian, Black chalk, traces of red chalk
Study for Lower Part of Torso and Legs of a Young Boy
Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli)
1568–1640
Design for a Reredos or Frame and Setting for an Altar Painting, Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash
Design for a Reredos or Frame and Setting for an Altar Painting
Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli)
1552–1626
God the Father, Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli) Italian, Red chalk; squared in red chalk
God the Father
Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli)
1553–1626
Design for a Lunette Decoration: Coat of Arms Flanked by Seated Allegorical Figures (recto and verso), Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli) Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over black chalk (recto); red and black chalk, pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, on (verso); squared in black chalk
Design for a Lunette Decoration: Coat of Arms Flanked by Seated Allegorical Figures (recto and verso)
Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli)
1553–1626
Two Nudes Seen from Below (recto); Male Figure with Upraised Arm (verso), Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli) Italian, Red chalk (recto and verso); squared in red chalk
Two Nudes Seen from Below (recto); Male Figure with Upraised Arm (verso)
Pomarancio (Cristoforo Roncalli)
1580–82

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