The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John

The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John from around 1660 at Leicester is a late devotional work showing Poussin's final meditations on sacred subjects. His late Holy Families achieve a profound serenity born of decades of classical refinement. Poussin developed his religious subjects through intense study of ancient Roman reliefs and Italian Renaissance masters, composing figures as if arranging actors on a stage. His cool, clear palette and sculptural figure treatment were adopted as the ...

The composition arranges the sacred figures with geometrical clarity and classical restraint. Poussin's late palette of measured, harmonious tones creates an atmosphere of timeless devotional order.