The Holy Family with Saint John

Artist Nicolas Poussin (French (active Rome), 1594-1665)

Place of OriginRome, Italy

Dateabout 1627

DimensionsH: 66 3/4 in. (169.5 cm); W: 47 1/2 in. (127 cm)

MediumOil on canvas.

ClassificationPaintings

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

Object number

1976.23

Not on View

Label TextThe subject of the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary, and Jesus) with John the Baptist did not illustrate a Biblical scene, but rather expressed the establishment of Christianity. The infant John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, holds a scroll proclaiming in Latin, “Behold the Lamb of God”—a reference to the Christ Child. John the Baptist was seen as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of the New Testament saints. His ancient scroll contrasts with Joseph’s book, symbolizing this transition from the old world to the new. The broken columns represent the passing of pagan Rome and the old authority. French-born Nicolas Poussin painted The Holy Family with Saint John not long after he settled in Rome in 1624. By the 1630s he would become one of the chief advocates of intellectual, classically inspired painting in opposition to the more dynamic Baroque style that dominated the first half of the 17th century (see also his Mars and Venus in this gallery).Published Referencesde Triqueti, H., Repertoire de l'oeuvre de Poussin, MS in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, ca. 1850, p. 48.

Andresen, A., Nicolaus Poussin, Verzeichniss der nach seinen Gemalden gefertigten Kupferstiche, Leipzig, 1863, French ed. by G. Wildenstein, in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, LX, July-Aug. 1962, p. 162, no. A.126, repr. (Anderloni engraving).

Giolli, R., "Un quadro del Poussin," Vita d'arte, 1909, pp. 28-29, repr.

Blunt, A., "La premiere periode romaine de Poussin," in Colloque Poussin, (ed. A. Chastel), Paris, 1960, I, pp. 165-166, fig. 135 (as Poussin, ca. 1629).

Wild, D., "Charles Mellin ou Nicolas Poussin," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, LXVIII, Oct. 1966, p. 204 (as by Mellin).

Blunt, A., The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin, A Critical Catalogue, London, 1966, no. 49, repr. (as Poussin, "probably painted just before 1630").

Blunt, A., Nicholas Poussin, New York, 1967, text vol., pp. 75, 77, 81, plate vol, pl 26 (as Poussin, ca. 1627-1629).

Thuiller, J., Tout l'oeuvre peint de Poussin, Paris, 1974, no. B30, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 129-130, pl. 187.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 19, nos. 2-3, 1976, p. 59, repr. (det. on front cover).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 60.

"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 89, no. 1298, Mar. 1977, repr. p. 48, no. 189.

Schulze, Franz, "A Consistently Discriminating Connoisseurship," Art News, vol. 76, no. 4, Apr. 1977, p. 67, repr. (col.), p. 65.

Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, Rome, 1977, p. 228.

Butler, David, "Two by Poussin," Ringling Museums, (calendar) Sept. 1978, p. (3) and repr.

Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 206.

Wild, Doris, Nicolas Poussin, Zurich, 1980, p. 283, repr. p. 282 (R46) as Jacques Stella.

A Dealer's Record: Agnew's 1967-1981, London, 1981, p. 12, repr. p. 106.

Rosenberg, Pierre, "Inventaire des tableaux francaise du XVIIe siècle appartenant aux collections publiques des Etats-Unis," in La peinture francaise du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines, Paris, 1982, p. 371, no. 9, repr. (Also in English edition New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth Century French Paintings in American Collections, 1982)

Conisbee, Philip, "Educating the Master," Art International, no. 5, Winter 1988, p. 112.

Harris, Ann Sutherland, "Konrad Oberhuber: Poussin, The Early Years in Rome," [review] Art Bulletin, vol. 72, no. 1, Mar. 1990, pp. 151, 152.

Merot, Alain, Nicolas Poussin, New York, 1990, p. 259, repr.

Thuillier, Jacques, Nicolas Poussin, vol. 2, Paris, Editions Faton, 2015, pp. 577-578, repr. (col.) p. 577.

Exhibition HistoryFort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Poussin, the Early Years in Rome, 1988, pp. 17, 90, 173, 260, repr. p. 91 (col.) and p. 260.