The Holy Family with Two Saints - Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

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The Holy Family with Two Saints

Master of the Antwerp Adoration. and workshop

Antwerp, Belgium, active in the first third of the 16th century

Oil on oak panel

64.3 x 55.7 x 0.9 cm

c. 1520

First third of the 16th century

69/79

Bequeathed by Laureano de Jado in 1927

The Virgin Mary, attired in a blue tunic and a loose-fitting carmine cloak, holds in her lap the naked Baby Jesus, who leans towards a bowl of cherries offered to him by Saint Catherine, who wears an elegant brocade dress and a rich headdress with precious metal coils. Saint Joseph, standing behind Mary, humbly takes his hat off while Saint Barbara, holding an open book in one hand and a peacock feather in the other, beholds the holy group. An angel with wings outspread plays the lute in front of a hybrid building that combines Late Gothic elements with Renaissance decorative features. A beautiful landscape bathed in a bluish light unfolds as a backdrop.

This painting has links with the Mannerist school that flourished in Antwerp, and more specifically with a group of anonymous painters active around 1520, among which the Master of the Antwerp Adoration, with whose works it has both stylistic and technical analogies. Its serene and balanced composition bears a stronger resemblance with that of the Epiphany at the Fine Arts Museum of Belgium, which, alongside the Antwerp painting, form the most outstanding group of works attributed to the master. The three share common features, in particular the oval face of the Blessed Virgin, whose eyelids are lowered over intensely black eyes, and the amusing expression of the Baby Jesus, with curly locks and little hands like "claws". The swift brushstroke is also characteristic of identical procedures found in the treatment of the flesh, the brocades and the changing tonalities to a beautiful effect. It is also possible to establish stylistic analogies with other Mannerist paintings produced in Antwerp, and thus attribute a first group of works from the same workshop to the same artist. Bearing in mind its somewhat rigid style, this painting could have been produced just before the decade of 1520.

The work, produced in the Mannerist style that characterised Antwerp at the time, pertains to the group of pictures surrounding the Brussels triptych of The Adoration of the Magi by the Master of the Antwerp Adoration. Due to its fine state of preservation and pictorial quality, it is a key work in a new research context. [Catheline Périer-D'leteren]

Selected bibliography

  • Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 29.
  • Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 28.
  • Réau, Louis. Iconographie de l'art Chrétien : iconographie des saints. Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1958. t. III, pp. 169-176, 262-272.
  • La Navidad en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bizkaiko Aurrezki Kutxa, 1980. p. 30, lám. 13.
  • Recuerdos artísticos de Bilbao. Bilbao, J. E. Baranda Icaza, 1919. s.p.
  • Lasterra, Crisanto de. Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : catálogo descriptivo : sección de arte antiguo. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 1969. p. 37, n° cat. 79. (Con el título La Sagrada Familia con dos Santas, y atribuido a Cornelis Engebrechtsz)
  • Bengoechea, Javier de. Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao. Bilbao, La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, 1978. pp. 122-123.
  • Castañer López, Xesqui. "La pintura flamenca del siglo XV en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : formas, temas, modelos", Kobie : bellas artes, n° 8. 1991. pp. 10-11.
  • Castañer López, Xesqui. Pinturas y pintores flamencos, holandeses y alemanes en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. Bilbao, Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, 1995. pp. 36-39.
  • Sánchez-Lassa de los Santos, Ana. "Laureano de Jadorenondareko pintura flandestarra = Pintura Flamenca en el Legado Laureano de Jado", Guía de Exposiciones, n° 277. 1998. s.p. (Con el título La Sagrada Familia con dos Santas)
  • Las tablas flamencas en la Ruta Jacobea [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Fundación Banco Santander Central Hispano, 1999. pp. 121-122, fig. 83.
  • Timón Tiemblo, María Pía. El marco en España : del mundo romano al inicio del modernismo. Madrid, Publicaciones Europeas de Arte ; Adhisa ; 4 Ingletes, 2002. p. 240.
  • Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 28.
  • Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 28.
  • Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. p. 28, n° cat. 14. (Con el título La Sagrada Familia con dos Santas, y como del Maestro de la Adoracion de Amberes)
  • Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. p. 28, n° cat. 14.
  • Périer-D'leteren, Catheline. "La Sagrada Familia con dos santas : una obra del taller del Maestro de la Adoración de Amberes = The Holy Family with Two Saints : a work from the workshop of the Master of the Antwerp Adoration = Familia Santua bi santarekin : Anberesko Adorazioaren Maisuaren tailerraren lana", Buletina = Boletín = Bulletin, n° 6. 2012. pp. 39-71, 207-216.
  • Arrizabalaga Salgado, Victor. Entre lo visible y lo invisible : el coleccionismo de arte en Bizkaia y Álava durante el siglo XX. Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia = Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, 2016. p. 120, il.
  • Diéguez Rodríguez, Ana. Precisiones al Catálogo de la Pintura Flamenca del siglo XVI en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [inédito]. 2013. pp. 125-132, n° cat. 20. (atribuido a Adrian van Overbeke y Taller)

The Holy Family with Two Saints