Holy Family with a Shepherd
Battista Dossi (Italian, c. 1490–1548)
early 1520s
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
38.7 × 32 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds
Accession Number
1949.185
Tags
male
About this artwork
In this image of the Holy Family, Joseph and Mary lean in to admire the Christ Child while a shepherd looks on, leaning on his staff. Before executing this painting, Battista visited Rome, including an extensive study of Raphael's works. Afterward, Battista began a second style of painting, seen in the flexible pose of Christ, the small hands of the adult figures, the high foreheads, and each figure looking sideways or upward. The landscape is impressionistic and grainy as mysterious silvery-blu...