How famous painters of the 17-18 centuries portrayed the "Holy Family"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Christmas theme in the painting of the 17th-18th centuries was very relevant. This is partly due to the period after the Renaissance (when artistic talents showed themselves in a variety of styles, directions, interpretations most vividly). Particularly interesting is the theme of the Holy Family in the works of the artists Rembrandt and Pompeo Batoni.

Rembrandt "Holy Family" 1645

Rembrandt van Rijn was born in 1606. He is one of the most prominent artists in Europe and the greatest in Holland. His paintings cover a wide range of different genres - portraits, landscapes, religious and historical paintings. In his works, he used chiaroscuro and various lighting and paint techniques. In the 1640s, Rembrandt produced several works on the theme of the Sagrada Familia. The world of harmony and love, lost after the death of his beloved wife Saskia, was revived again in his life with the appearance of Hendrickje Stoffels. This artist's happiness manifested itself in The Holy Family. A number of art historians believe that Hendrickje's features can be seen on the face of the Virgin Mary, and a small child sleeping in a cradle is the prototype of Titus, the son of Rembrandt and Saskia.

On his canvas The Holy Family (1645), Rembrandt depicted the family as if the artist had come to visit a Dutch family of the 17th century and decided to capture them on canvas. For example, the wicker crib can be attributed to the Rembrandt period due to its similar use by other artists of the period, Peter de Hooch. The scene with "The Holy Family" is one of the most striking attempts by Rembrandt to show light differently in his paintings. Here Rembrandt depicted three light sources:

- illuminated angels (accompanied by divine light from heaven), - the illuminated face of Mary and the cradle of Jesus (light from the fireplace), - Joseph's desk (the source is probably a window).

The Virgin Mary sits on a low chair, holding a large open book in her left hand. She looks up from reading, carefully lifts the curtain of the cradle and bends down slightly to carefully check the baby's sleep. Her face radiates the light of love and tenderness. In the foreground is the carpentry workshop of Joseph, who is busy with his work. In the cradle, a child, covered with a red blanket, sniffs softly. Maria is dressed in a dark red dress and navy blue skirt, her head is covered with a white scarf. Behind her, in partial shade, Joseph in a brown work dress forms a yoke with his ax. At the top of the painting, viewers see soaring angels watching Jesus. The viewer also sees the artist's signature in the lower left corner (“Rembrandt 1645.”) Surely the first emotion of a person looking at a painting is an incredibly warm and homely atmosphere. "Fluffiness" and softness are felt in the brownish darkness and peacefully penetrating pure golden light, accompanying the little angels. One of the angels is depicted in a crucifixion pose.

The black-and-white technique manifested itself especially clearly in the work of Pompeo Batoni, who created his own version of the "Holy Family".

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni "Holy Family" (1777)

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (1708 - 1787) was one of the most famous Italian painters of his time, and his patrons and collectors were royalty and aristocrats from all over Europe. The fame and reputation of the master noticeably weakened in the 19th century and increased again by the 20th century. The Italian painter and draftsman, son of a prominent jeweler, Pompeo is called “the last old master of Italy,” and he was indeed one of the last great Italian masters to work in Rome. In addition, Batoni was the leading portrait painter of the 18th century in Rome, as well as the highest master of allegorical and mythological works. Pompeo became famous primarily as a religious historian.

The first exhibition dedicated to Pompeo Batoni was held in his hometown of Lucca in 1967, two others were organized in London and New York in 1982. The large number of foreign visitors traveling throughout Italy and reaching Rome during their "Grand Tour" forced the artist to specialize in portraits. Although Batoni was considered the finest Italian painter of his time, contemporary chronicles mention his artistic rivalry with Anton Raphael Mengs. Batoni drew inspiration from elements of classical antiquity, French Rococo, Bolognese classicism, as well as the works of Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain and especially Raphael. Today, Pompeo Batoni is considered the predecessor of neoclassicism.

The large canvas "Holy Family" (1777) Pompeo Batoni created not to order, but for himself. He wrote and kept it for 5 years in his workshop, until the heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich and his wife Maria Feodorovna (1728) visited it. They bought the painting they liked as a gift to their mother, Empress Catherine II. The painterly elements inherent in Batoni are very clearly manifested in this work: a smooth dense overlay of paint, an elegant sound of color, a remarkable purity of the drawing.

The figures of Mary with a baby in her arms and the boy John the Baptist are somewhat abstract in their perfection. The viewer recognizes the young John by his woolen clothes and a cross in his hands. Batoni is one of the founders of classicism, but his art never fully belonged to this style. In The Sacred Family, a whole plot is created - Joseph, who reads the Bible and inadvertently looks at Jesus, Elizabeth, who wants to take the child in her arms. Maria is dressed modestly: she is wearing a beige and gold shawl, a sky blue robe and a pink dress. The artist used a rich contrasting palette, accentuating the figure of Mary and the Child using a light and shade technique.

Pompeo made it clear that these are the main characters of the picture. The viewer sees the baby in a white robe (this white color was created masterfully, the glow emphasizes the holiness of his hero). Mlandenz's skin tone is the lightest and softest of all the hero tones (this is very significant). The interior part is especially attractive: the table at which Joseph is sitting is covered with a red carpet and decorated with a lovely bouquet of roses and lilies. Both flowers are symbols of Mary, but at the same time, the bouquet gives a special coziness to the atmosphere of the room and complements the composition.

Below is a comparative infographic of the two paintings of the "Holy Family".

Modern scientists are still interested in the mystery of Mary, mother of Jesus - Holy virgin or victim of an error in the translation of an ancient text.