The Holy Family

18th century (?)
Ca' Rezzonico, Venice, Italy

The Ca' Rezzonico is a museum of 18th century art and that period loved cute putti, so this is probably from that century. The figures exist in and out of time: John the Baptist is an adult while his cousin, born just three months later, is a baby. The mother and child are posed on a cloud, as in Heaven, but St. Joseph stands on the floor in shadow and looking old, a kind of characterization that had become less common by the 18th century.

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• Iconography of the Holy Family
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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.