The Holy Family with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist

Luca Longhi was the leading painter in Ravenna during the second half of the sixteenth century. Despite his residency in Ravenna during most of his career, Longhi was an eclectic artist who derived inspiration from Venetian, Emilian and Central Italian masters. Raphael was a particularly important model for him, as is apparent in the present work in which the composition reveals a knowledge of Raphael's late Madonna and Child paintings, such as the Madonna of Francis I in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, Inv. no. 1498. Longhi knew these compositions primarily through the prints of Marcantonio Raimondi and others.

In a 17th Century carved ebonized and partially gilded frame with a pierced acanthus leaf central plate and tongue-and-leaf sight edge.