Holy Family with Saints PALMA VECCHIO c. 1518

The complete title of the painting is The Holy Family with Saints John the Baptist and Mary Magdalen.

Palma Vecchio [Jacopo Palma], c.1480-1528, was an Italian painter who was born near Bergamo, but active for all his known career in Venice, where he is first documented in 1510. His original name was Jacopo d'Antonio Negretti, but he was using the name Palma by 1513. He is called Palma Vecchio [Old Palma] to distinguish him from Palma Giovane [Young Palma], his great-nephew. Sometimes his name is written with the first and last put together as if one name. Nothing is known of his training, and there is indeed very little certain knowledge about his life and works, none of his pictures being dated or signed. However his style is so distinctive, that at least one can reliably ascertain his works.

He painted a few altarpieces for Venetian churches, but most of his work was done for private clients. While much of his painting was of the secular and and or pagan variety his Sacre conversazioni [Holy Conversations]  theme is a subject he painted many times; in it, groupings of figures converse in a quiet landscape suffused in a golden glow, such as the Holy Family above.

His work was influential on painters of the next generation in Venice, notably Bonifazio Veronese, one of whose own Holy Families bears a resemblance to this picture.  As sweet as this portrait is with the Young Savior looking so fondly at His foster-father while being so carefully cradled by His Mother, the coming of Christ's Passion predominates, with St. Mary Magdalen's jar of spices, the Lamb that will be slain next to St. John the Baptist who prepares the way for the Savior.
 





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