Getty Museum

Holy Family with Saints Anne, Catherine of Alexandria, and Mary Magdalene

Date

1560s

Medium

Oil on panel

Culture

Italian

Department

Paintings

Institution

Getty Museum

This panel, alive with vibrant hues and communicative expressions, illustrates Nosadella’s powers of artistic invention. Huddled closely together, the Virgin suckles the infant Christ while Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine of Alexandria look on in adoration. Joseph stands behind them, conversing with the Virgin’s mother, Saint Anne, while two cherubim observe the scene timidly from the upper right. Sitting on the floor as a sign of her humility, the Virgin and saints are arranged in a loose pyramidal shape, and appear in contorted poses and compressed into a tight space. The faces of the three young women are classically idealized, and they are swathed in garments of bright, vivid colors. Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine wear jewelry and expensively brocaded fabrics, which contrast with the simpler garments worn by the Virgin, Joseph, and Saint Anne. Details of Nosadella's development over his short career, spanning just twenty years, remain unclear. Bolognese biographer Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616 – 1693) noted that "the few works by him that are known … are distinguished by their good color,” and described the artist’s compositions as “powerful, singular, and resolute.”

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