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Source Description
"Tondi" (circular paintings) were a popular in domestic interiors of Renaissance Florence where they would be viewed by members of the entire family. This painting is especially attuned to a familial audience since it depicts the Christ Child standing between his parents, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The child gazes directly out of the picture field as if to keep a watchful eye over the home. With his right hand, he offers a gesture of blessing. As in most tondi, the composition is symmetrical. The bodies of Mary and Joseph are carefully calculated to conform to the circular framing.Ridolfo Ghirlandaio ran one of the busiest workshops in early 16th-century Florence. He was second in line of an artistic dynasty established in the 15th century by his father, Domenico (1449-94), and was a close friend and collaborator of the famous Raphael (1483-1520). The lucid lighting and the solemn composure of the figures in the Walters' tondo demonstrates Ridolfo's affinities with both his father and Raphael. For a painting at the Walters by a member of Ridolfo’s workshop, see 37.420.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
37930
label
Holy Family
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
37930
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Holy Family
description
"Tondi" (circular paintings) were a popular in domestic interiors of Renaissance Florence where they would be viewed by members of the entire family. This painting is especially attuned to a familial audience since it depicts the Christ Child standing between his parents, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The child gazes directly out of the picture field as if to keep a watchful eye over the home. With his right hand, he offers a gesture of blessing. As in most tondi, the composition is symmetrical. The bodies of Mary and Joseph are carefully calculated to conform to the circular framing.Ridolfo Ghirlandaio ran one of the busiest workshops in early 16th-century Florence. He was second in line of an artistic dynasty established in the 15th century by his father, Domenico (1449-94), and was a close friend and collaborator of the famous Raphael (1483-1520). The lucid lighting and the solemn composure of the figures in the Walters' tondo demonstrates Ridolfo's affinities with both his father and Raphael. For a painting at the Walters by a member of Ridolfo’s workshop, see 37.420.
provenance
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 407, as Bartolomeo Vivarini]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1510 (Renaissance)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
oil paintings (visual works)
tondi
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
86.5
height
85.8
depth
1.1
dimensionsRaw
Painted surface H: 34 1/16 x W: 33 3/4 x D excluding cradle: 7/16 in. (86.5 x 85.8 x 1.1 cm)
Source extras
med
oil on wood panel
creator_ids
7151
collection_ids
REN
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
229735fe54476e54
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
168de366e9bca74f
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no