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Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Fra Bartolommeo (Baccio della Porta)

The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

ca. 1506 - 1507
Oil on panel.
62 x 47 cm
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Inv. no.
29
(
1955.6
)
Room 7
Level 2
Permanent Collection
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 13 15 16 17 18 22 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Recommended start of the visitClassical rooms
1 14th Century. Early Italian Painting 2 15th Century. German and Spanish Painting 3 15th Century. Early Netherlandish Painting 4 15th Century. Italian Painting 5 15th and 16th Centuries. Renaissance Portraiture 6 16th Century. Villahermosa Gallery 7 16th Century. Italian Painting 8 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 9 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 10 16th Century. Netherlandish Painting 11 Tiziano, Tintoretto, Bassano and  El Greco 12 17th Century. Caravaggio and Baroque Painting 13 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 14 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 15 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 16 18th Century. Italian Painting 17 18th Century. Italian Painting 18 18th Century. Italian Painting 19 Classical rooms 20 Classical rooms 21 Classical rooms 22 18th Century. Italian Painting 23 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 24 18th Century. French and English Painting 25 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Scenes of Daily Life and Interiors 26 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 27 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Portrait 28 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 29 19th Century. European Painting. Goya and Romanticism  
Baccio della Porta, Fra Bartolommeo’s name before he entered the Dominican Order, was trained in Florence with Cosimo Rosselli, although his real master was Piero di Cosimo, with whom he coincided in Rosselli’s workshop. It was Piero di Cosimo who encouraged the artist to study the technique and compositions of the Flemish painters as well as the work of other Florentine artists. In 1500 della Porta entered the monastery of Santo Domenico in Prato and later moved to the monastery of San Marco in Florence, at which point he took on the name of Fra Bartolommeo. In 1508 he visited Venice where the use of colour in Venetian art influenced his own style.

Between 1513 and 1514 he was in Rome where he worked for the Prior of San Silvestre al Quirinale. The artist’s earliest works reveal his knowledge of Quattrocento painting and of the work of Leonardo, from whom he derived elements such the approach to tonal gradation. Fra Bartolommeo was a follower of Savonarola and his works reflect the teachings of that monk, who was put to death in 1498. Vasari considered him an excellent painter, praising his colouring, especially the flesh tones and draperies in which he achieved soft tonalities. Vasari also emphasised his manner of softening the motifs and his technique of creating chiaroscuro and shadows that made his figures “acquire such relief that they seemed alive”.

The present panel depicts a subject widely depicted in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries: that of the meeting between the Infant Christ and the Infant Saint John the Baptist. The artist, however, adopted an innovative approach to this episode, which is not recounted in the Gospels. The setting and the figures surrounding the two principal ones are usually found in depictions of The Adoration of the Magi. Thus, on the right we see part of a ruined structure that refers to the stable in which the ox and ass lie, remote from the principal events. The foreground is occupied by the Holy Family, whose gestures are delicately conveyed with particular care by the artist so that the viewer grasps the sacred message of the composition. Despite the small size of the work the figures are particularly striking. Saint Joseph, on the left, has the Christ child lying at his feet on the Virgin’s robe. The Child stretches out his arms towards the nude Saint John, also standing on Mary’s robe and approaching the Christ Child in an attitude of devotion. Mary presents her son to Saint John, placing her hand gently on John’s back to encourage him to move forward. The composition is completed with another element characteristic of Adoration scenes: the three angels, who in this case float above the figures as if to protect the members of the Holy Family.

The influence of Flemish art is evident in the broad landscape in the background. Fra Bartolommeo constructed it using strong, contrasting tones that gradually diminish in intensity until the sky and mountain peaks blend together. The composition is imbued with a great sense of tranquillity, dignity and harmony, qualities characteristic of Fra Bartolommeo’s oeuvre as a whole, in which a sense of profound religiosity prevails.

Mar Borobia
16th Century16th Century - Italian paintingPaintingOilpanel
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The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist. La Sagrada Familia con san Juanito, c. 1506-1507
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Fra Bartolommeo (Baccio della Porta)

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Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

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The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist. La Sagrada Familia con san Juanito, c. 1506-1507
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Fra Bartolommeo (Baccio della Porta)

©

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Terms of Use

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