Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia

Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John c. 1495 - 1505

print, engraving

imaginative character sketch

facial expression drawing

light pencil work

print

pencil sketch

junji ito style

personal sketchbook

pen-ink sketch

sketchbook drawing

italy

sketchbook art

engraving

fantasy sketch

Giovanni Antonio da Brescia's "Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John" (c. 1495–1505) is an engraving depicting the Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John. The composition is a classic representation of the Holy Family with Mary holding the Christ child, while Elizabeth is positioned beside her holding the infant Saint John. The image depicts the moment when Elizabeth recognizes the divine nature of the Christ child. This engraving, now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, showcases da Brescia's skill in portraying the human figures with delicate details and realistic expressions.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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Above all else, Italians prized disegno-the visual strength of the overall composition and the rendering of figures with convincing volumes. This quality is apparent in Giovanni Antonio da Brescia's Holy Family, a print nicely balanced by the presence of John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth, at left. A pupil of Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Antonio took inspiration for this engraving from a painting by the master. The hard, almost metallic finish in this monumental print seems somehow suited to Mary's elderly cousin Elizabeth, who bore John late in her life when God answered her prayers for a child.