The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret

The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret

c. 1495

Did You Know?

This type of painting is known as a tondo, a circular work of art.

Description

Lippi’s sophisticated composition gracefully overlaps five figures in a round format. Oliviero Caraffa, Cardinal of Naples, commissioned this work, although Lippi probably painted it in Rome while working for the cardinal’s family, an example of the widespread taste across Italy for the art of Florence. Meticulously detailed still-life elements on the parapet, thick with symbolic meaning, reflect Lippi’s interest in northern European painting he would have seen in Florence. Likewise the classical architecture—referring to the pagan world cast off by Christianity—demonstrates his engagement with ancient art and architecture in Rome. Embellished with learned references and made with expensive materials, this painting would have actively inspired religious meditation and demonstrated the patrons’ courtly, civilized taste.
  • 1858-1898
    Caraffa family, Palazzo Sant'Angelo, Naples
    1898
    Mrs. Samuel D. Warren, Boston
    1928
    Edward Warren, Lewes House, England
    1929
    H. A. Thomas
    1932
    Harry Woodbury Parsons, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
    1932-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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    Special Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of the Late Mrs. S.D. Warren, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (April 1902).
  • {{cite web|title=The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret|url=false|author=Filippino Lippi|year=c. 1495|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1932.227