The Holy Family

Ca. 1787. Oil on canvas.
Room 034

Goya expresses the greater importance of this composition through the larger size of the figures, compared to its companion work, Tobias and the Angel (P07856). The wood shavings on the floor indicate that the scene takes place in Saint Joseph´s austere carpentry shop. The Virgin and Saint Joseph —holding his flowering staff— sadly reflect on their child´s destiny, which is foreshadowed by the wooden cross he holds in his hands. The light, which is observed with great naturalness, comes from the Child and his Mother and floods the dark room. The composition is ordered according to the reigning neoclassical rigor, to which Goya was not immune at that time.

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Series

Escenas de Tobías como prefiguración de Cristo

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Inventory number: P007857
Author: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Title: The Holy Family
Date: Ca. 1787
Technique: Oil
Support: Canvas
Dimension: Height: 63.5 cm; Width: 51.5 cm
Series: Escenas de Tobías como prefiguración de Cristo, 2
Provenance: Private Collection in Madrid, late nineteenth century-2003; Acquired by the State, as a nonrecourse debt of Caja Madrid, for the Prado Museum, 2003.
Entry date: 2003

Bibliography +

Mena Marqués, Manuela B., Goya, pintor Religioso. Tres cuadros inéditos, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2003, pp. 30-36.

Mena Marqués, Manuela B., Francisco de Goya (1746-1828). 'Tobías y el ángel' (c.1787-88) y 'La Sagrada Familia' (c.1787-88), En : Museo Nacional del Prado. Memoria de actividades 2003, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Secretaría de Estado de Cultura, Madrid, 2004, pp. 38-40.

Posada Kubissa, Teresa, August L. Mayer y la pintura española: Ribera, Goya, El Greco, Velázquez, Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, Madrid, 2010, pp. 209.

Maurer, G., "Goya: lo bello y lo recóndito", en Mena Marqués, M. B. (dir.): La belleza encerrada, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2013, pp. 392; 407.