The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret

Filippino LippiLinkedCulture matchlcp-1e2388af03dd

Date
c. 1488–93
Medium
tempera and oil on wood
Culture
Italy
Department
Medieval Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
113202

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

This monumental tondo, among Filippino’s most significant works, was commissioned by Neapolitan cardinal Oliviero Carafa, a leading political and ecclesiastical figure. The painter’s ingenious composition harmoniously overlaps five brilliantly colored divine figures within the challenging circular format. Behind a low wall adorned with sacred and domestic objects, Joseph observes the intertwined group of Mary holding Christ, who embraces his cousin John the Baptist, supported by Saint Margaret. Created during Filippino’s Roman years (1488–93), the painting reflects the inspiration he drew from ancient art. The preparatory drawing reveals how he reimagined Greco-Roman figures—his sketch of an antique Venus statue was refashioned into Saint Margaret—while the weathered pier references remnants of ancient architectural and decorative motifs, illustrating Filippino’s deep engagement with the fragments of antique murals, sculpture, and architecture throughout the city. Ultramarine, the blue pigment used lavishly across this tondo (circular painting), was many times more expensive than gold in the Renaissance.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
The Delia E. Holden Fund and a fund donated as a memorial to Mrs. Holden by her children: Guerdon S. Holden, Delia Holden White, Roberta Holden Bole, Emery Holden Greenough, Gertrude Holden McGinley
Provenance
c. 1488-93–1511: Presumably commissioned by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa (1430–1511), Rome | 1511–: Presumably in Carafa collections by descent, Rome and Naples | by 1815: Palazzo Santangelo (formerly Palazzo Diomede Carafa until 1814), Naples | 1898–1901: Acquired at Palazzo Diomded Carafa or at Villa Santangelo, Pollena, from the Santangelo family and Ignazio Virzì by Bernardo Berenson and Edward Perry Warren for Susan Cornelia Clarke (Mrs. Samuel Dennis Warren Sr.) (1825–1901), Boston | 1901–1928: By descent to Cornelia, Edward, Fiske, and Samuel Warren in Boston and Lewes House, East Sussex, United Kingdom | 1928–1929: Bequeathed to H. Asa Thomas by Edward Warren (1860–1928) | 1929: Sold by H. Asa Thomas through Harold Woodbury Parsons to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1932: The Cleveland Museum of Art

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