The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John
Giovanni Antonio da Brescia
1500/10
Medium
Engraving in black on buff laid paper
Dimensions
30 × 26 cm (11 13/16 × 10 1/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
56697
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Giovanni Antonio da Brescia likely used a drawing or painting by his teacher Andrea Mantegna to produce this pared-down scene of the Holy Family, with its strong strokes, relief-like shadows, and crisp details. While the New Testament of the Bible does not mention the meeting between the infant Christ and his young cousin John, the scene was a popular one beginning in the fourth century. In some traditions, the cousins visited Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in Bethlehem just after the Nativity, while o...