Italian school (possibly Venice), ca. 1600.

Italian school (possibly Venice), ca. 1600.
"Holy Family."
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Measurements: 72 x 64 cm; 93 x 85 cm (frame).

Painting belonging to the late Renaissance or early Baroque. The figures that make up the scene are worked with remarkable idealism. The three faces are sculpted with a soft chiseling that enhances the beauty of the marine features, the roundness of the oval of closed eyelids of the Child and the worried countenance of a gray-bearded Joseph. Mary holds her left hand to her heart and her dark eyes convey a deep melancholy, knowing of the sacrifice to come. The psychological capture reaches an enormous emotional depth. The red rose symbolizes the death and passion of Jesus. The color of the Virgin's tunic reinforces the same message. The three characters are grouped in a closed frame, so that the use of the window lightens the strength of the foreground. The pictorial quality in the emulation of the lace of the cushion and the smoothness of the gauze veil also stands out. Both the roundness of the figures, the volumes, the use of a classical composition in which the characters are arranged in a triangle, and the sensuality of the contrasting shades, refer us to the canons of the Cinquecento.