Holy Family and Saints

Follower of Tisi Benvenuto called Garofalo

(Garofalo or Ferrara 1476 - Ferrara 1559)

Scholars do not consider this to be an autograph work, noting that some elements were painted by the workshop. The saints in the painting are probably Elizabeth and Zachary on the left, next to the young John the Baptist, and Anne and Joachim, behind the Madonna.

Object details

Commentary

With a backdrop that shifts from the shadow cast by a ruined building on the left to the cool light bathing the landscape on the right, this painting depicts a Holy Family that has been expanded to include the encounter between the two divine children, St John the Baptist and the Christ Child, with their respective parents. Sts Elizabeth and Zachary on the left and the Virgin, looking directly at the viewer to establish a connection with the content of the painting, on the right. Mary’s parents, Anne and Joachim, are whispering to one another behind her. The other four figures in the shadows are connected to the commission rather than the episode portrayed.

The composition, which has recently been described as ‘hard-fought’ (Herrmann Fiore 2002), is as troubled as the work’s physical condition, leading some scholars to leave open the question of whether it is autograph (Fioravanti Baraldi 1993). Most specialists, however, hold that it was painted by Garofalo’s school, especially considering the spatial distribution and the inaccuracy of the proportions (Platner 1842, Venturi 1893, Longhi 1928, Berenson 1968).

Lara Scanu