Artwork
The Holy Family
The Holy Family is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Joos van Cleve. It dates from 1520 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition treats the Holy Family as its main subject, a designation consistent with the genre classification of religious art.
The Holy Family by Joos van Cleve depicts the traditional devotional grouping of the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child, and Saint Joseph, identified in the Wikidata record as the principal subjects of the panel. As a religious painting, the work belongs to a long-established iconographic tradition in which the three figures are presented together as the nuclear family of Christian devotion, with the Christ Child as the focal point of the sacred bond between mother and foster father.
The composition treats the Holy Family as its main subject, a designation consistent with the genre classification of religious art. Van Cleve's treatment of the theme reflects the early 16th-century Netherlandish devotional image, in which the intimate, humanized portrayal of Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child served both as a model of pious family life and as a vehicle for contemplating the Incarnation.
Technique & Style
The Holy Family by Joos van Cleve is executed in oil paint on a panel support, a combination characteristic of early sixteenth-century Netherlandish practice. The work is nearly square in format, measuring 86.5 cm in height by 85.5 cm in width, and is classified as a religious painting. Its subject is the Holy Family, depicting the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child, and Saint Joseph.
The composition is dated to 1520, and the painting is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
History & Provenance
Created by Joos van Cleve in 1520, this oil painting on panel depicts the Holy Family, specifically Mary, the Christ Child, and Joseph. The work measures 86.5 cm in height and 85.5 cm in width. It is currently held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, where it is cataloged under the accession number KMSsp2.
The painting is classified as a religious artwork and is based on the iconographic tradition of the Holy Family.
The Holy Family by Joos van Cleve is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Denmark. The work, created in 1520, is identified by the inventory number KMSsp2. This oil painting on panel depicts the figures of Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child.
The provided sources do not contain information regarding a specific exhibition history for this artwork.
Overview
Created in 1520 by Joos van Cleve, a prominent Antwerp painter active from the early 1510s until his death in the early 1540s, this oil painting belongs to the Northern Renaissance. It portrays a domestic scene of the Holy Family, rendered in the subdued lighting and detailed observation characteristic of Early Netherlandish art, while also reflecting contemporary Renaissance influences.
Context
Operating within the traditions of Early Netherlandish painting, van Cleve incorporated Renaissance ideas of spatial arrangement and naturalistic detail. The interior setting, stone flooring, and view through the window of a distant landscape with a castle illustrate the blend of Northern detail and Italianate compositional balance typical of the period.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Joos van Cleve (; also Joos van der Beke; c. 1485–1490 – 1540/1541) was a leading painter active in Antwerp from his arrival there around 1511 until his death in 1540 or 1541. Within Dutch and Flemish Renaissance…
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