Holy Family with Infant Saint John

Holy Family with Infant Saint John at the Fogg Museum of Harvard University, painted around 1670, is a mature treatment of one of Murillo's most frequently commissioned subjects — the encounter between the Infant Christ and the young John the Baptist under the protective gaze of Mary and Joseph. The Fogg Museum's holding, part of Harvard's Art Museums complex, reflects the significant American university collecting of European Old Masters that began in the late nineteenth century as academic art history departments sought to supplement photographic teaching materials with original works. The subject's combination of theological content — John as Christ's forerunner, the two children's relationship prefiguring the adult baptism at the Jordan — with the charming observation of childhood interaction gave Murillo a subject that could serve both scholarly contemplation and devotional engagement, making it appropriate for the varied audiences of a university museum.

The figures of Mary, Joseph, the Christ child, and the young John the Baptist are arranged in a close, intimate grouping. Murillo's vaporous, luminous background — a hallmark of his mature style — surrounds the figures with a gentle atmospheric glow.