Calvaert

This magnificent Holy Family on copper is signed and dated by Denys Calvaert. It gathers together, symbolically and anachronistically, in the manner of a holy conversation, the saints Jerome, Joseph and John the Baptist as a child around the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus. The scene clearly invites the viewer to meditate on Christ’s sacrifice and on the prayer: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”. Indeed, the little St. John the Baptist kneeling before the Child holds a phylactery with which he announces Ecce Agnus Dei, words he actually pronounces as an adult when seeing Christ on the banks of the Jordan and before baptizing him. At his feet, his wooden cross announces the Crucifixion. His impetuous gesture and ardent expression convey the fervor of his love as he receives the blessing of the Infant Jesus. The latter is holding an apple, symbolizing original sin and his salvation mission. The three adults in the composition gaze at the scene with an attitude of attentive adoration, which the painter masterfully conveys through gentle glances and expressions, and subtle gestures.

One of the first Flemish artists to emigrate to Italy and play a leading role in Italian painting, Calvaert first trained in Antwerp, in the studio of landscape painter Christian van Queborn (1515- 1578), then left for Italy in the early 1560s. Around 1562, he settled in Bologna, where he worked in the studio of Prospero Fontana and then Lorenzo Sabatini. Here, he acquired the Mannerist style that prevailed at the time, as demonstrated by his first dated work, The Allegory of Vigilance (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale, 1568). In 1572, he accompanied Lorenzo Sabatini to Rome to paint the decorations for the Sala Reggia in the Vatican. Back in Bologna, he opened a workshop where he taught the future greats of the Bolognese school, Guido Reni, Francesco Albani and Domenichino, before they joined the more innovative Carracci workshop.

Almost exclusively a painter of religious scenes, Calvaert produced excellent life-size altarpieces, but also excelled in smaller-format devotional paintings. Perhaps it was his Flemish origins that made him so adept at working on copper, a medium that perfectly enhances his meticulous brushwork and the Mannerist, ever-changing colors he favors, such as rose-lilac, purplish and yellow tones. Most of his works are preserved in churches and museums in Italy.

The physiognomies of the faces in our painting, particularly those of the Virgin and the little Saint John the Baptist, are similar to a beautiful work signed and dated 1579, exhibited and sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2018. By virtue of its subject and X-shaped layout, characteristic of the artist’s work, our work can also be compared to a copper signed and dated 1584 sold in Milan in 2006, in which the chromatic palette and pose of the protagonists are similar. St. Elizabeth replaces St. Jerome, and the window in the background is more reminiscent of Federico Barocci. A drawing in the Louvre prepares this work, with a few differences. The date of execution of our work therefore most certainly lies between these two examples, i.e. in the early 1580s.

In each of these examples, as well as in a drawing in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (Inv. 9191, The Virgin and Child with Saint Catherine), the Virgin’s position is virtually identical. Similarly, the posture of the little Saint John kneeling in contrapposto and holding the phylactery reappears in other Calvaert drawings (see the figure of Saint Roch in Inv. 2010 of the Musée du Louvre) and also recalls certain figures painted by Lorenzo Sabatini’s close friend Orazio Samacchini, such as his figure of Saint Felix in his large altarpiece painted in 1570-77, The Virgin Mary and saints Nabor and Felix, Francis of Assisi, Claire of Assisi, John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria (Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale) or his Saint Roch, works that Calvaert could not fail to see and admire as soon as he arrived in Bologna. This perfectly illustrates the method of replicating and diffusing motifs in the Mannerist workshops of the Bolognese school, before the Carracci’s naturalistic revolution and the introduction of drawing from nature.

Although Mannerist in its creative process, the work also reveals a more restrained style, shaped by the culture of the Counter-Reformation then prevailing in Bologna. The composition, simple and serene, conveys a clear message of hope: in comparison with the version of 1579, hairstyles, garments, and ornaments are simplified, the gestures more subdued, and the religious message strengthened, while the presence of Saint Jerome likely underscores the central importance of the Holy Scriptures in this context.

The landscape and beautiful architecture in the background are quite remarkable. They accentuate the painting’s depth and conveys Calvaert’s Flemish taste for a certain atmospheric lightness, a perspective worked more by subtle blues and greens than by geometry. They contribute to the scene’s feeling of softness, calm and balance.