(Santa Croce, Bergamo 1480/1485 - after 1556 Venice)
The Holy Family with Saint Mary Magdalene,
oil on canvas, 141 x 205 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Vilmos Tátrai for confirming the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

The present painting shows the Holy Family with Mary Magdalene and it is an important work in the corpus of Girolamo da Santacroce. The centre of the composition is occupied by the Madonna, depicted in a typical pink dress with blue mantle. In her left hand, she holds a book and with her right she lifts the mantle to reveal the Infant Christ. His head rests on a pillow and he lifts the drape on which he lies, gazing affectionately at Mary. St. Joseph, to the right of the Madonna, holds his staff in his hand and turns his gaze on the Child, while the saint shown in profile joins her hands in prayer. The figures sit on a rocky ground covered with grass with two rabbits in the left foreground, one brown and the other white, symbolising Christ’s dual human and divine nature. In the background we see an open green hilly landscape, dotted with distant towers and a small village beyond which one can see a lake. Blue mountains rise above the horizon and the sky above is streaked with numerous clouds.

Girolamo da Santa Croce, came from a village near Bergamo from which he takes his name. He trained in Venice in the workshop of Gentile Bellini from the last decade of the 15th century. In 1507.Gentile Bellini left him half of his drawings of oriental figures that had previously been lent to Bernardino Pinturicchio Girolamo then continued to work in the atelier with Bellini’s brother, Giovanni, who profoundly influenced his painting, as did other Venetian artists such as Cima da Conegliano, Carpaccio and Palma il Vecchio. Girolamo was active in the lagoon area, where he produced mainly devotional works, altarpieces and polyptychs, such as the present work, which given its large size was probably intended for a public setting. He was also in demand with patrons in Dalmatia and Istria.