The Holy Family with Four Saints and a Female Donor
Antonio Rimpatta
1505–1515
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 125.3 × 120 cm (49 3/8 × 47 1/4 in.); Framed: 147.4 × 141.7 × 10.2 cm (58 × 55 3/4 × 4 in.)
- Genre
- oil on panel
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
religionoil paintings (visual works)paintingred (color)paint16th Centurywomangreen (color)Jesuschalicebabiesreligious figuresoil on panelplant materialDevotionprayerVirgin and child/Madonna and childpanel paintingoil paint (paint)painting (image making)painting techniquesItalianreligious scenesVirgin MarySaintsholy familywood (plant material)Christian subjectssixteenth centuryreligiousorganic materialoil paintingwoman with childrenpanel (wood)european paintingChristianitymother
About
Here, the infant Jesus sits in a central position on the lap of his mother, Mary, with Saint John the Evangelist nearby, holding a golden chalice. The half-length representation of a kneeling woman at the bottom right represents the donor who commissioned the painting, likely for a small church or private chapel. This type of composition, with several figures grouped around the Holy Family and a donor present, is known as a sacra conversazione (sacred conversation) and was popular in 16th-century Italy. Antonio Rimpatta was probably born in Bologna before relocating to Naples. He traveled frequently throughout central Italy, where he absorbed the characteristics of a variety of painters, resulting in an eclectic style.