Holy Family

This Holy Family at the National Gallery of Art is attributed to Giorgione, though like many works in his small catalogue, the attribution has been debated. The devotional subject is treated with the intimate warmth and natural grace characteristic of Giorgione's approach to sacred subjects, which emphasized human tenderness over hieratic formality. Characteristic of Giorgione's approach, the work displays poetic sfumato, mysterious subject matter, unified atmospheric color, 'tonal painting' pioneer.

Rich, warm coloring and soft transitions between light and shadow create an atmosphere of domestic intimacy, the figures modeled with the painterly freedom that distinguished Venetian from Florentine methods.