Daniel Mauch
The Holy Kinship (Mary Cleophas, Alpheus, and their children)

Austria, 1510
Voralberger Landesmuseum, Bregenz, Austria

The presence of four children and a husband is a key to identifying the woman as Mary Cleophas, the daughter of St. Anne and her second husband, Cleophas. She married Alpheus, who is identified in Matthew 10:3 as father of James the Less. Tradition also assigned the apostles Simon and Jude to this family, as well as the "Joseph the Just" or "Barsabas" who is mentioned in Acts 1:23.

In placing the children at this Mary Cleophas's feet and breast, Mauch may have been influenced by a way of personifying Charity that was developing in this period (example).

Read more about images of Jesus' kinfolk.

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Sources: Holy Kinship photograph by Andreas Praefke via this page at Wikimedia Commons..
Charity photograph: Web Gallery of Art via this page at Wikimedia Commons.