Flemish school of the second half of the 17th... Lot n° 44

Flemish school of the second half of the 17th century. "Holy Family with a procession of putti". Oil on canvas. Relined. Measurements: 48 x63 cm; 56 x 70 cm (frame). In the most common sense of the expression, the Holy Family includes the closest relatives of the Child Jesus, that is, mother and grandmother or mother and nurturing father. In both cases, whether it is St. Anne or St. Joseph who appears, it is a group of three figures. From the artistic point of view, the arrangement of this terrestrial Trinity poses the same problems and suggests the same solutions as the heavenly Trinity. However, the difficulties are fewer. It is no longer a question of a single God in three persons whose essential unity must be expressed at the same time as diversity. The three personages are united by a blood bond, certainly, but they do not constitute an indivisible block. Moreover, the three are represented in human form, while the dove of the Holy Spirit introduces into the divine Trinity a zoomorphic element difficult to amalgamate with two anthropomorphic figures. On the other hand, this iconography was traditionally, until the Counter-Reformation, a representation of the Virgin and Child to which the figure of St. Joseph was added in the foreground. It was not until the reforms of Trent when St. Joseph began to take center stage as protector and guide of the Infant Jesus. On this occasion the artist represents the Holy Family (with Mary and the Child in the foreground, and St. Joseph in the background) relegated to the right of the composition, while the rest of the work is occupied by a procession of small putti dancing with them. The scene is completed by a break of glory in its celestial part. It is a baroque work in terms of the multitude of characters and positions, although balanced and harmonious, especially in the chromatic field (with a palette reduced to aura and warm colors).