Madonna with child, Saint Elizabeth, and Saint John

This 1529 Madonna with Child, Saint Elizabeth, and Saint John reflects the expanded Holy Family iconography that included the Holy Kinship—the extended family of Christ including his cousin John and Elizabeth. This was one of Andrea del Sarto's final paintings before his death from plague in 1530 The Madonna and Child was the most ubiquitous devotional subject of medieval and Renaissance art, present in every church and many private homes as a focus for prayer and spiritual contemplation.

The late work demonstrates the deep, saturated color and emotional warmth of Andrea's final style, with the figures unified in an intimate grouping that combines devotional gravity with familial tenderness.