The Holy Family
ca. 1538–42 (?)
Medium
Etching
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.78.2(311)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Andrea Schiavone, also known as Andrea Meldolac. 1522–1563), was a Venetian painter and printmaker whose dynamic style bridged the High Renaissance and Mannerism. Active in Venice during the mid-16th century, drew inspiration from masters like Titian and Parmino. *The Holy Family*, an etching dated around 1538–42, this tender religious scene featuring the Madonna, Child, attendant saints—a motif central to Christian devotion during the Counter-Reformation era, emphasizing familial piety and divine grace. Etching, a revolutionary printmaking technique Schiavone helped pioneer in Italy, involve...
About the Artist
Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola) · 1510–1563
Andrea Schiavone, born Andrea Meldolla around 1510 or 1515 in Zara (modern Zadar, Croatia), in Venetian-ruled Dalmatia, hailed from a family rooted in Meldola near Forlì in Romagna, Emilia-Romagna. His father, Simon Meldolla, served as a garrison commander there, and both parents originated from Meldola, where the family held property into the early 16th century. Nicknamed "Schiavone"—"the Slav"—a...