Holy Family with St. John and Angels

Battista Dossi's Holy Family with Saint John and Angels, from around 1510 and now at the Galleria Borghese in Rome, places the younger Dossi brother within the orbit of the great Este court painting tradition of Ferrara. Battista worked primarily in collaboration with his more famous brother Dosso Dossi, and disentangling their individual contributions to Ferrarese court production remains a matter of scholarly debate. The Galleria Borghese's holding of this work connects it to Cardinal Scipione Borghese's voracious early seventeenth-century collecting activity, which brought many Italian Cinquecento works to Rome. The Holy Family with the young Baptist and accompanying angels combines private devotional warmth with the Ferrarese passion for rich colour and atmospheric light derived from Venetian influence and the example of Giorgione.

The composition is intimate and warm with the figures grouped with natural ease. Venetian influence is evident in the warm tonal light that suffuses the scene and the atmospheric rendering of the landscape background. Angel figures contribute a celestial dimension without overwhelming the intimate family group. Colour is rich and varied with the Ferrarese preference for deep saturated tones modulated by Venetian glazing.