The Holy Family with a Little Bird is a painting by Murillo, a Spanish painter.
The painting is from 1650.
This painting depicts a scene in which the Holy Family is in the carpentry workshop of Saint Joseph in Nazareth.
The Holy Family includes Jesus, Saint Joseph, and the Virgin Mary.
In the centre of the painting, we see the Child Jesus holding a little bird in his right hand.
Child Jesus shows the bird to a white dog.
Standing beside the Child Jesus is Saint Joseph, who stopped working to play with his son.
On the left of the painting, we see the Virgin Mary spinning yarn while she watches the scene affectionately.
Murillo painted a touching scene of the Holy Family in their home to help viewers connect with their everyday lives.
In the 17 century, the Catholic Church promoted the role of Saint Joseph and gave more importance to his figure in the Holy Family.
They also depicted Saint Joseph as a father who was close to the Child Jesus.
Murillo is the author of this painting.
Murillo was born in Seville and was one of the most famous painters of his time.
He specialised in artworks depicting religious scenes and created many portraits for the upper class of Seville.
Murillo was a painter who specialised in the Baroque art style that was popular in the 17 century.
Murillo painted this picture early in his career.
At that time, he used techniques to highlight certain parts of the painting.
In other areas of the painting, he used darker colours to create the impression that they were in shadow.
For example, the background of the painting is darker than the figures of the Child Jesus, Saint Joseph, and the Virgin Mary.
In 1744, Queen Elisabeth Farnese bought this painting because she admired the artwork of Murillo.
Before that, the painting was in various private collections.
Funded with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRPP) , Spain’s Next Generation EU financing and according to the initiatives within the component C.24.I3 Digitization and valorization of major cultural services. The project is part of Campus Prado within Accessibility and Signage: Revitalization of the Urban Environment action line and as a universal accessibility activity.
