The Holy Family

The highly unusual, perhaps unique, iconography of this work, depicts the Holy Family with a touching sense of domesticity. Engaged in the act of sewing, the Virgin wears a delicately-painted thimble on her middle finger, while her thumb and forefinger firmly grasp an almost imperceptible needle, pulling thread. Saint Joseph has taken over holding the Christ-Child, echoing the traditional iconography of the Virgin and Child, albeit with a paternal note. The slender, sceptre-like staff which rests agains the crook of his arm, its end tucked between his elegantly crossed feet -- a way of sitting which connoted royalty or nobility of bearing in Mediæval art -- and the dainty flower held by the Christ-Child, refer to Joseph's flowering rod, the miracle by which he was made known as the Virgin's chosen husband. The cape draped over Joseph's shoulders, as well as the dignified folds of the Virgin's red cloack -- joined below her neck with a richly jewelled clasp -- contribute to the impression that these are royal figures holding court or receiving supplicants, while the effect is simultaneously overlayed with the indications of humility and family life more typical of such depictions. The winding road leading into the distance, glimpsed in the background between Mary and Joseph, alludes to the Flight into Egypt, undertaken by the Holy Family to escape Herod's Massacre of the Innocents, although the ambiguous age of the Christ-Child leaves it uncertain as to whether the Holy Family is soon to embark on such a journey, or recently returned. The pensive, downturned glances of the Holy parents indicate their contemplation of the difficult road ahead in the life of their Son. His eyes are the only ones which meet the viewer's gaze; they too are pensive, but speak both of divine knowledge and of Christ's humanity -- his body language and facial expression are the unmistakable ones of a sleepy child in the arms of a father. The delicate treatment of the landscape, faces, drapery and hands (including the iconographically rare thimble), is matched in the sparkling paint handling of the leather shoes, the Virgin's hemline and the tiled floor.

We are grateful to Dr. Didier Martens for suggesting an attribution to Pieter Claessins the Younger on the basis of photographs. The second son of Pieter Claeissins the Elder, Pieter the Younger was a member of an important artistic dynasty in Bruges. Little of their life and works is documented, but their prominence in the artistic and social life of the city is clear. The Elder was active as both a painter and an illuminator, painting the Resurrection still in situ in Bruges Cathedral. The Younger matriculated in the Guild of Saint Luke in 1570 and held a number of guild offices, and from 1581 to 1621 was the official painter to the city of Bruges, succeeding his elder brother Anthuenis. His Allegory of the Peace of the Netherlands in 1577 (Bruges, Groeningemuseum) was painted to mark the inauguration of Don Juan of Austria as Governor of the Netherlands, and he was also probably largely responsible for the decorations which greeted the triumphal entry of Alessandro Farnese into Bruges in 1584. A bird's-eye view of the city is in the Stadhuis, while the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk contains an altarpiece depicting the Foundation of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The facial types in the present work are characteristic; a close comparison can be drawn between that of Saint Joseph and a Christ as Salvator Mundi formerly with Herbrand, Paris (RKD illustration no. 61922).