''Holy Family with the Family of St John the Baptist'' is an oil-on-canvas painting created ''c.'' 1536 by the Italian artist

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpieces, religiou ...

, and now in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. It was probably produced as a private commission, possibly for a Venetian. However, for unknown reasons it remained with the artist, who tried to sell it on before leaving for the Marche in 1549, as recorded in a note in his commonplace books. He sought to use his friend Jacopo Sansovino as his go-between for the work, but Sansovino ended up unable to sell this or any other works by Lotto and returned them all to the painter. Lotto tried to sell them off again in 1550, by which time he was in

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

, this time at a public auction in the Loggia dei Mercanti. This too proved unsuccessful, with ''Holy Family'' and most of the other works again remaining unsold. The artist probably took the work to Loreto, where he made a copy of it for the Palazzo Apostolico. The original work passed out of his hands later, possibly via the religious community of Oblates of the Holy House, of which he had become a member. It reappeared in 1662 in an inventory of the French royal collections, having been acquired by an art dealer with a misattribution to

Dosso Dossi Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri, better known as Dosso Dossi ( 1489–1542), was an Italian Renaissance painter who belonged to the School of Ferrara, painting in a style mainly influenced by Venetian painting, in particular Giorgione and early T ...

References

{{16C-painting-stub Paintings of the Madonna and Child by Lorenzo Lotto 1536 paintings Paintings in the Louvre by Italian artists Paintings depicting John the Baptist

Lotto Lotto may refer to: * Lotto, original, 15th century name of the Italian lottery * Lotto (Milan Metro), a railway station in Milan, Italy * Lotto carpet, a carpet having a lacy arabesque pattern * Lotto Sport Italia, an Italian sports apparel manu ...

Paintings of Elizabeth (biblical figure)