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Notes
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The Virgin Mary is seated behind a grey parapet on which the infant Christ stands. He grasps at her strangely high breast and she curls her right hand protectively around him. Saint Joseph, in a straw hat and glasses, reads at a lectern. This is one of many similar paintings associated with Joos van Cleve, although in most of them Christ is perched on the Virgin’s knee rather than standing on the sill. Indeed that was how he was shown in the first version of our painting – his position was changed after the initial composition was painted. The composition was clearly created in Joos' workshop using drawings to combine elements used in other paintings – the lilies, the knife and orange, and the stems of cherries recur in several pictures.
Title
The Holy Family
Date
about 1515-20
Medium
Oil on oak
Measurements
H 50.2 x W 36.5 cm
Accession number
NG2603
Acquisition method
Salting Bequest, 1910
Work type
Painting