The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist 1500 - 1535

Editor: This drawing, "The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist," is attributed to Andrea Mantegna, and dates from around 1500 to 1535. The medium is charcoal. I find it really striking—the figures feel so monumental, almost like sculptures, despite being on paper. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: Oh, darling, it’s the *ghosts* that whisper to me! Look at that figure on the right – or rather, the absence of one! The incomplete state, that tantalizing suggestion of form… it reminds us that even in supposedly “finished” works, there’s always a becoming, a potential unrealized. Mantegna gives us a peek behind the curtain, a glimpse into the workshop of creation itself. What do you think the artist’s choice suggests to us? Editor: It almost feels like he abandoned the work… or maybe he meant to come back to it? But if he did, it's hard to be believe that he would leave such a raw impression, in this historical context of such rich portraiture... Curator: Precisely! Consider the Renaissance fascination with antiquity, the rediscovery of classical sculpture… Aren't these figures echoing the grandeur and weight of ancient statues? But Mantegna does not give the figures the same life to all of them: that head! It has always seemed that even those artists, at some point in time, find it impossible to fill those empty vessels that a patron desires. Do you believe this abandonment speaks to some inherent feeling within art-making? Editor: I do think there's a push and pull in every work between what an artist hopes to express and what *can* be expressed. Curator: Exactly! The ghosts, then, are not just missing heads, but the myriad possibilities of art itself! And, what possibilities are those? Oh, darling! We are far behind in time! Editor: This has made me see how process itself can become the story. It's about that inherent quality you speak about, the relationship the artist develops with the medium as it transforms. Curator: My dear, art whispers secrets only when we listen with our souls, not just our eyes. It has been amazing hearing your views!