The Holy Family and Saint John the Baptist playing with a lamb, an angel at right
Original title: The Holy Family and Saint John the Baptist playing with a lamb, an angel at right
kurzbeschreibung
Mary holds the Christ Child on her lap while Joseph stands nearby with a staff. John the Baptist and an angel turn toward the child, and another angel appears on the right. Willem Panneels engraved this plate around 1631; it is the second state of two. The scene unfolds in an idyllic landscape.
Description
A woman—Mary—sits in the foreground, holding a child. A man with a staff stands to the side, likely Joseph. Two children, identified as John the Baptist and an angel, play with the child on her lap; one holds a basket. On the right, another angel looks on. The figures wear traditional garments, and their arrangement is symmetrically focused on Mary.
Context
Panneels, a Flemish engraver and painter, was a pupil and collaborator of Peter Paul Rubens. This print, made around 1631, dates from the period when Panneels was working in Antwerp. The engraving reproduces a composition by Rubens that served as the model, and it is presented here in the second state.
Impact
Calm and devotion define the image. The symmetrical layout and even lighting contribute to this effect. The figures appear idealized and remote, as is typical of Baroque religious art. Viewers are invited to quiet contemplation.
Technique
An engraving is an intaglio process: lines are cut into a metal plate. Depending on depth and density, they hold varying amounts of ink during printing, which produces the gradations of gray. The second state refers to a plate that was reworked after the first impression.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)