The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and John the Baptist as a Child
Medium
Engraving; third state of five (Hollstein)
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 10 1/2 × 7 15/16 in. (26.7 × 20.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Georgiana W. Sargent, in memory of John Osborne Sargent, 1924
Accession Number
24.63.835
Tags
Art Historical Context
This engraving from 1620 captures the Holy Family alongside Saint Elizabeth and the young Saint John the Baptist, a beloved subject in Christian art that emphasizes themes of devotion, kinship, and divine protection. Created through the collaboration of Peter Paul Rubens, the celebrated Flemish Baroque master known for his dynamic compositions, and engraver Lucas Vorsterman I, the print translates Rubens’s painterly vision into a detailed black-and-white medium. Vorsterman’s precise linework beautifully renders the tender interactions among the figures, allowing the emotional warmth of the sce...