Holy Family with the Infant Saint John and Saint Elizabeth

Benvenuto Tisi da Garofalo painted this Holy Family around 1520, depicting the intimate domestic grouping of the Virgin, Christ Child, and Saint Joseph that gained popularity as devotional emphasis shifted toward the humanity of Christ. The painting is in the Courtauld Gallery Altarpieces featuring rows of standing saints served both liturgical and devotional functions, identifying the church's patron saints and giving worshippers specific objects for personal prayer.

The devotional composition is rendered with attention to the expressive and contemplative qualities that served the painting's function as an aid to prayer and meditation.