Flemish School; 17th century

Flemish School; 17th century

"Holy Family with cherubs".
Oil on copper.
Presents faults.
Measurements: 27.50 x 35 cm, 56 x 64 cm (frame).
The Virgin and Child, St. Joseph and St. Anne form a closed and intimate group in this baroque painting of Italian school. Gestures and gestures converge towards the center of the scene where Jesus is in the lap of his grandmother. The figure of St. Joseph is in the background, but even so, its monumentality reflects the importance of the cuddles in the image as well as in the biblical portrait. The light also has an intense effect on the maternity, so that the Marian flesh tones are almost pearly, while the other faces are more atheistic. The naturalism printed in the expressions and garments stands out: the aged skins of some, while others are characterized by their vivid freshness. Likewise, the fabrics combine the smoothness of silk with the roughness of coarse cloths. In short, the painting is fully ascribed to the Italian Baroque.
In the most common sense of the expression, the Holy Family includes the closest relatives of the Child Jesus, that is, mother and grandmother or mother and nurturing father. In both cases, whether it is St. Anne or St. Joseph who appears, it is a group of three figures. From the artistic point of view, the arrangement of this terrestrial Trinity poses the same problems and suggests the same solutions as the heavenly Trinity. However, the difficulties are fewer. It is no longer a question of a single God in three persons whose essential unity must be expressed at the same time as diversity. The three personages are united by a blood bond, certainly, but they do not constitute an indivisible block. Moreover, all three are represented in human form, while the dove of the Holy Spirit introduces into the divine Trinity a zoomorphic element that is difficult to amalgamate with two anthropomorphic figures. On the other hand, this iconography was traditionally, until the Counter-Reformation, a representation of the Virgin and Child to which the figure of St. Joseph was added in the foreground. It was not until the reforms of Trent when St. Joseph began to take center stage as protector and guide of the Infant Jesus.