''The Holy Family with Angels'' (1645) is an

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

on canvas by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

painter Rembrandt. It is an example of

Dutch Golden Age painting Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republ ...

and is now in the collection of the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...

Description

This painting was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1915, who wrote:

94. THE HOLY FAMILY WITH THE ANGELS. Sm. 72.; Bode 321; Dutuit 59; Wb. 391; B.-HdG. 251. In the foreground of Joseph's carpenter's workshop, the Virgin Mary sits on a low chair, holding a large open book on her left arm. She rests her left foot on a foot-warmer and leans over to the left to draw the green curtain of the cradle in which the Child lies asleep under a red fur-lined coverlet. Mary wears a deep red gown and dark blue skirt, and a white kerchief and cap. Behind her in half-shadow, Joseph, in a brown working-dress, is shaping a
yoke A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, u ...
with his axe. From above to the left child-angels flutter down, throwing a bright light on the Virgin and the cradle. Full-length figures, almost half life-size. Signed on the left at foot, "Rembrandt f. 1645"; canvas, 46 1/2 inches by 36 inches. An old copy without the angels was in the possession of an English dealer in 1899, and afterwards in the possession of a New York dealer. Another copy without the angels was in the sale: –London, June 7, 1912, No. 23 (£15 : 15s.). A pen-drawing for the picture is in the collection of Leon Bonnat, Paris; reproduced by Lippmann-Hofstede de Groot, No. 20. A study in chalk for the Child in the cradle was in the collection of J. P. Heseltine, London, and is now in the collection of H. Oppenheim, London; reproduced by Lippmann, No. i883. Engraved by J. Vendramini, 1836; by J. Sanders in outline in F. Labenski, ''Description de I'Ermitage'', i. 28. Etched by N. Mossoloff in ''Les Rembrandts de l' Ermitage''. Lithographed by H. Robillard in Gohier Desfontaines and P. Petit, ''Galerie de l' Ermitage'', i. 4. Mentioned by Vosmaer, pp. 262, 537; by Bode, pp. 474, 599; by Dutuit, p. 38; by Michel, pp. 299, 566 28-9, 441 by Waagen, ''The Picture Gallery of the Hermitage'', p. 177. ''Sale''. Adriaen Bout, The Hague, August 11, 1733 (Hoet, i. 390), No. 81 (150 florins); said to measure 43 1/2 inches by 55 inches. In the Crozat collection, Paris; bought for the Hermitage by the
Empress Catherine ii , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
. In the Hermitage Palace, Petrograd, 1901 catalogue, No. 796 aid by Sm. in 1836 to be well worth £2100 Entry 94 for 'The Holy Family with Angels''
in Hofstede de Groot, 1915

Unusual portrayal in home setting

Rembrandt portrays the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the fir ...

as a typical family of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in his day. In the foreground Jesus is asleep in the same style of wicker crib that can be seen in period paintings of mothers with babies by

Pieter de Hooch Pieter de Hooch (, also spelled "Hoogh" or "Hooghe"; 20 December 1629 (baptized) – 24 March 1684 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age painter famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes with an open doorway. He was a contemporary of ...

. Mary looks up from her book to take a peek at the sleeping child under the crib curtain (Dutch: ''klamboe''). In the background Joseph is working on making a

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, u ...

.The yoke refers both to the coming of the Lord according to

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

("For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian"), as well as the words of Jesus according to Matthew the Apostle ("Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light"). Other "Holy Family" paintings by Rembrandt or his school are: File:Rembrandt, The Holy Family with a Curtain, 1646, Museum Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel.jpg,

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Kassel) The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister is an art gallery housed in the Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel in Germany. It is based on the collection of William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. Works from the Gallery of the Old Masters File:Rembrandt-se ...

. File:Rembrandt - Holy Family - WGA19116.jpg,

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 ...

. File:De heilige familie bij avond Rijksmuseum SK-A-4119.jpeg, Rijksmuseum.

References

72. ''The Holy Family''
in Smith's catalogue raisonné of 1836
''The Holy Family with Angels''
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

''The Holy Family with Angels''
in the Hermitage website {{DEFAULTSORT:Holy Family with Angels 1630s paintings Paintings by Rembrandt Paintings in the Hermitage Museum Rembrandt Angels in art Books in art

Description

Unusual portrayal in home setting

See also

References