The Holy Family

The large-scale devotional masterpiece by the prominent Spanish High Baroque master painter Claudio Coello (1642-1693), “Holy Family,” painted in the late 17th century (c. 1680), is a magnificent example of his work. The art arrangement is placed in a well-balanced, classical pyramid, with the sacred figures. The Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph enclose the infant Christ Child, leading the viewer up a vertical axis of divine light at the center. Coello used linear clarity and the effect of distance to create a sense of depth in space. The foreground figures of the holies are sharply and definitely drawn and given a tactile effect as if they had a real physical presence. Furthermore, in the chiaroscuro mechanics, there is a strong contrast between the light, sharp light on the figures and the dark, shadowed background (chiaroscuro) that gives the scene a heightened drama and emotion. Moreover, the stylistic synthesis demonstrates a clear influence of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, whose warm and friendly tenderness is evident, as well as of the Venetian School (in particular Titian and Veronese) in the use of colour and handling. Based on the art-historical research, the large canvas appears to have been part of an ambitious altarpiece cycle originally intended for the Discalced Carmelite Convent in Madrid, San Hermenegildo. Claudio Coello was the last of the 1600s Madrid School of great artists and the last of the Painters of the King’s Chamber (Pintor de Cámara) of King Charles II to enter the devotional areas of the monastery in the theatrical style of Late Baroque court art. ‘Holy Family’ is a masterpiece of the Spanish High Baroque in sacred painting, a fusion of narration and visual drama.