(Benson Madonna)
Venice, c. 1498
oil on wood, 37,3 x 45,6 cm
Washington, National Gallery of Art
Samuel H. Kress Collection
The Holy Family is the work of a young artist who has only recently left the workshop of Giovanni Bellini (as indicated by the facial type used for St. Joseph), but who is already working in his own characteristic idiom and experimenting with new painterly forms and ideas. The most innovative aspect of the Holy Family is probably the distant landscape visible through the arch on the right.
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