Holy Family with Saint Catherine 1525

Francesco Torbido painted this oil on canvas, 'Holy Family with Saint Catherine', sometime in the early 16th century. We see a familiar trope of High Renaissance art: the Madonna and child with attendant figures, set in an idealised landscape. But what does the visual language of the artwork tell us about its cultural context? The composition and the naturalistic rendering of figures show the influence of Venetian painting, while the subject matter speaks to the dominance of the Catholic Church in Italian society. At the time, art was largely commissioned by wealthy patrons and religious institutions, such as the church which largely dictated the themes and styles that artists employed. As art historians, we can draw on a range of resources to understand paintings like this: archival records, theological texts, and studies of patronage and artistic practice. Approaching art in this way reminds us that meaning is never fixed, but always shaped by the culture and institutions in which it is made.