The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret
Filippino Lippi·c. 1488–93
Historical Context
Filippino Lippi's Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret from around 1488-93 belongs to his mature period, when he was completing the Strozzi chapel in Santa Maria Novella alongside major easel paintings for private clients. The combination of the holy family with John the Baptist and Margaret — the martyr who rejected a prefect's sexual advances and was protected by the angel who subdued a dragon — was unusual and reflected a specific patron's devotional requirements. Filippino's ability to organize complex multi-figure devotional compositions while maintaining individual psychological character for each figure was one of his primary achievements.
Technical Analysis
The mixed technique of tempera and oil on wood demonstrates Filippino's refined handling of both media, with delicate figure modeling, elaborate drapery patterns, and the emotional expressiveness that characterizes his mature devotional works.
Provenance
Presumably commissioned by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa(1430–1511), Rome; Presumably in Carafa collections by descent, Rome and Naples; Palazzo Santangelo (formerly Palazzo Diomede Carafa until 1814), Naples; Acquired at Palazzo Diomded Carafa or at Villa Santangelo, Pollena, from the Santangelo family and Ignazio Virzì by Bernardo Berenson and Edward Perry Warren for Susan Cornelia Clarke (Mrs. Samuel Dennis Warren Sr.) (1825–1901), Boston; By descent to Cornelia, Edward, Fiske, and Samuel Warren in Boston and Lewes House, East Sussex, United Kingdom; Bequeathed to H. Asa Thomas by Edward Warren (1860–1928); Sold by H. Asa Thomas through Harold Woodbury Parsons to the Cleveland Museum of Art; The Cleveland Museum of Art
