Neapolitan master; second half of the 17th century."Holy Family with Saint John.Oil on canvas. Re-

Neapolitan master; second half of the 17th century.
"Holy Family with Saint John.
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
It presents restorations.
It has faults in the frame.
Measurements: 92 x 131 cm; 108 x 146,5 cm (frame).
Scene of landscape format in which a scene of devotional character is represented. In it we can appreciate the presence of Saint Joseph, the Virgin and the Child. It is worth noting that the Child is portrayed in the foreground, the Virgin Mary in the background and Saint Joseph is barely sketched in the background, losing definition in the drawing with respect to the rest of the figures. In the scene there is an area reserved for the figure of Saint John, depicted as a child. He approaches Jesus and looks at him curiously, holding the phylactery in one of his arms. The four figures are set in a dark-toned interior, illuminated by the flesh tones of the figures and the halo of the little Jesus, which is presented in a subtle way. The scene is intimate in character, as, despite the monumentality of the figures, the Virgin and Child share a tender gaze that emphasises the complicity between them. It is the aforementioned lighting that provides the key to the school, as the artist is close to the postulates of tenebrism, which developed particularly in Naples thanks to the figure of Caravaggio.
In the most common sense of the expression, the Holy Family includes the closest relatives of the Child Jesus, i.e. mother and grandmother or mother and nurturing father. In both cases, whether it is Saint Anne or Saint Joseph who appears, it is a group of three figures. From an artistic point of view, the arrangement of this terrestrial Trinity poses the same problems and suggests the same solutions as the heavenly Trinity. However, the difficulties are fewer. It is no longer a question of a single God in three persons, whose essential unity must be expressed at the same time as his diversity. The three personages are united by a blood link, certainly, but they do not constitute an indivisible block. Moreover, all three are represented in human form, while the dove of the Holy Spirit introduces a zoomorphic element into the divine Trinity that is difficult to amalgamate with two anthropomorphic figures. On the other hand, this iconography was traditionally, until the Counter-Reformation, a representation of the Virgin and Child with the figure of Saint Joseph in the foreground. It was not until the reforms of Trent that Saint Joseph began to take centre stage as the protector and guide of the Infant Jesus.