Cleveland Museum of Art

The Holy Family on the Steps

Nicolas Poussin

Date

1648

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

France, 17th century

Department

European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This deceptively simple composition represents a complex meditation on the Holy Family’s role in the redemption of humanity. At the center, Mary presents the Christ child to the world. At the left, Saint Elizabeth leans forward to foretell his eventual death, while her son, Saint John the Baptist, offers Jesus an apple, signifying humanity’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. At the right, Saint Joseph holds a compass, a sign of his occupation as a carpenter and also symbolic of God the Father. Poussin developed his composition meticulously and deliberately, using clear primary colors, simple forms, and a geometric organization to express the central importance of the Holy Family in Christian belief. Poussin placed small wax models in a box pierced with holes to study lighting effects.

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