Holy Family with the Young St. John the Baptist

In the later 1510s, Raphael designed compositions featuring the Holy Family as guides for paintings made by his most talented assistants, among them Giulio Romano. After Raphael’s death, Giulio completed some of his projects. Giulio also picked up on Raphael’s practice of collaborating with Marcantonio. The solid grandeur and decorative patches of lighting in this image, often called The Virgin with the Long Thigh, point to Giulio as the designer of the figures. Notably different from Raphael’s practice is the prominence of the architectural ruins in the background. It remains an open question whether these symbols denoting the decay of the civilizations preceding the birth of Christianity were given greater prominence by Giulio or Marcantonio.