The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist

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The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist

Artist Francesco Salviati (Italian (Florence), 1510 -1563)

Place of OriginFlorence, Italy

Dateabout 1540

DimensionsPainting: 51 1/4 × 31 1/2 in. (130.2 × 80 cm)
Frame: 71 3/4 × 56 × 5 in. (182.2 × 142.2 × 12.7 cm)

Mediumoil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1975.83

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 15

Label TextLanguorously elegant, a youthful Madonna gently supports a robust, twisting Christ Child on her lap in this striking panel by Francesco Salviati. Leaning against her left shoulder, the infant John the Baptist gazes adoringly at his young cousin, Jesus. Saint Joseph looks on in contemplation from the shadows. The figures emerge from a velvety darkness, the Virgin's robes almost glowing, with the play of light on the fabric represented through color shifts rather than changes in value, giving the garment an iridescent quality. The elongated proportions, serpentine poses, shallow space, and vibrant, high-key tones express the taste for the graceful, studied artifice of the bella maniera, or Mannerism, of the 16th century. Salviati's early training as a goldsmith is evident not only in the elaborate diadem and jeweled collar worn by the Virgin and in the clasp of John the Baptist's cloak, with its fanciful, grotesque face; but also in the ornamental line of details such as hair and the folds of the garments.Published ReferencesVoss, H., "Kompositionen des Francesco Salviati in der italienischen Graphik des XVI. Jahrhunderts," Die Graphischen Künste (supplement), XXXV, 1912, pp. 66=67, fig. 12.

Voss, H., Die Malerie der Spätrenaissance in Rom und Florenz, Berlin, 1920, I, pp. 246-247.

Venturi, A., Storia dell'arte Italiana, Milan, 1933, IX, (part 6), p. 212, no. 1.

Mortari, L., "Alcuni inediti di Francesco Salviati," Studies in the History of Art Dedicated to William E. Suida on His Eightieth Birthday, London, 1959, p. 247, fig. 1.

Cheney, I., "Francesco Salviati 1510-1563," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1963, II, p. 344, 355.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 149, pl. 12.

"La chronique des arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 89, no. 1298, Mar. 1977, repr. p. 46, no. 182.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 19, nos. 2 & 3, 1976, p. 54-55, repr.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 35 (col.).

Monbeig-Goguel, Catherine, Francesco Salviati (1510-1563) ou la bella maniera, Milan/Paris, 1998, p. 192, 236, repr.

Monbeig-Goguel, Catherine, Francesco Salviati et la bella maniera: actes des colloques de Rome et de Paris (1998), Paris, 2001, p. 215.

Hirst, Michael, "Francesco Salviati: Some Additions and Reflections," in Monbeig-Goguel, Catherine et al., Francesco Salviati et la bella maniera: actes des colloques de Rome et de Paris (1998), Paris, 2001, pp. 73-76, fig. 4 (col.).

Petrioli Tofami, Annamaria, "Francesco Salviati e polidoro da Caravaggio: sulle tracce di una consonanza," in Monbeig-Goguel, Catherine et al., Francesco Salviati et la bella maniera: actes des colloques de Rome et de Paris (1998), Paris, 2001, p. 380.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 144, repr. (col.).

Schumacher, Andreas, Annette Kranz, and Anette Hojer, eds., Florentiner Malerei Alte Pinakothek. Die Gemälde des 14. bis. 16. Jahrhunderts., Munich, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2017, p. 593, repr. (col.) p. 593, Abb. 44.4.