Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-joshua-reynolds-444" aria-label="More by Sir Joshua Reynolds" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Joshua Reynolds</a>
Holy Family with Infant St John
Presented by the British Institution 1830
actions: postures and motions
adults
baby
Bible: New Testament
children
Christ
cross
family
family
Holy Family
landscape
man
mother and child
objects
people
reading, writing, printed matter
religion and belief
religious and ceremonial
Saints
scroll
sitting
society
St John the Baptist
St Joseph
Virgin Mary
woman
wooded
<p>Reynolds painted very few religious paintings. This one, produced towards the end of his life, shows many aspects of the ‘grand style’ he recommended to the Academy’s students. The composition is based on the work of old master painters Reynolds had studied in Italy. The drapery is simple, with little description of details such as texture or local colour.</p><p>The colour has faded to little more than tints of light and shade. But Reynolds particularly cautioned students to avoid over-sensuous colouring. Bright colours, he warned, could not produce ‘that solidity, steadiness, and simplicity of effect, which heroick subjects require.’</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
8 October 2001 – 9 March 2003
2003-03-09
8 October 2001 – 9 March 2003
2003-03-09
2001-10-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-08
Britain and Italy in the Eighteenth Century
Collection based display
10 March 2003 – 12 July 2004
2004-07-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-10
Royal Academy
Collection based display
The Holy Family with the Infant St John
support: 1981 × 1492 mm
Presented by the British Institution 1830
<p><i>The Holy Family</i>, one of only a small number of religious pictures by Sir Joshua Reynolds, was painted towards the end of the artist's career.  In terms of colour and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> it is heavily influenced by the art of Titian (<i>c</i>.1487/90-1576) and other Italian old masters, whom Reynolds had studied intently since his visit to Italy during the early 1750s. It was purchased from Reynolds in 1789 by Thomas Macklin (d. 1800) to hang in his 'Poets' Gallery', 89 Fleet Street, a commercial venture that relied upon selling <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engravings</span></a> from original <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>. The picture appears to have been completed by October 1787 when <i>The Morning Post</i> noticed it hanging in Reynolds's own picture gallery at his home in Leicester Square. It is not certain exactly when Reynolds began work on the picture, although a reference in his pocket book at 10 a.m. on 18 January 1787 to an 'old man' may relate to the model for St. Joseph. The composition, particularly the figure of the infant St. John the Baptist, is partly based on Correggio's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/allegory" title="Glossary definition for 'Allegory'"><span>allegorical</span></a> <i>Mercury Instructing Cupid in front of Venus</i> (National Gallery, London).

</p><p>The picture was first exhibited at the Poets' Gallery in 1789. In April 1790, when it was again on view, the press reported royal interest in the picture: 'The fame of Sir Joshua's "Holy Family" in the Poets' Gallery has made its way to the palace. We hear it is in contemplation, immediately after the Birthday, to gratify the Princess Royal (who is an amateur) with a view of this boast of the English School' (<i>The World</i>, 19 April 1790). It was exhibited by Macklin once more in 1791, but was omitted from his catalogue in 1792 and 1793, by which time he had probably sold the painting, having commissioned an engraving to be made from it by subscription.

</p><p>In 1829 Sir Peter Burrell (1754-1829), who had bought the picture from Macklin, bequeathed it to the National Gallery, where it hung alongside old-master paintings. By now the condition of <i>The Holy Family</i> was causing concern. In 1839 the artist John Landseer (1769-1852) observed: 'When it hung in Macklin's Gallery and subsequently in that of Sir Peter Burrell, it was then a fine picture with a solemn tone suited to the sacredness of the subject  the St Joseph was not then "a weak old man" but might vie with any St Joseph from the hand of Titian himself'. Landseer noted that the head of St. Joseph had been affected adversely not only by Reynolds's experimental technique but also by a recent cleaning by a member of The Skinners' Company, which removed some of the delicate glazes (<i>The Probe</i>, 1839-40, p.182). It was transferred to the Tate Gallery in 1949. 

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b><br/>David Mannings and Martin Postle, <i>Sir Joshua Reynolds. A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings</i>, New Haven and London 2000, vol.1, pp.536-7, no.2089; vol. 2, p.600, fig.1637

</p><p>Martin Postle<br/>November 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
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<span class="text16">Reynolds painted very few religious </span><span class="text0"><a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>. This one, produced towards the end of his life, shows      many aspects of the ‘<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/grand-manner" title="Glossary definition for 'Grand Manner'"><span>grand style</span></a>’ he recommended to </span><span class="text15">the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/academy" title="Glossary definition for 'Academy'"><span>Academy</span></a>’s students. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a></span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text15">is based on the work of old      master</span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text14">painters</span><span class="text15"> Reynolds had studied in Italy.</span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text16">The drapery is simple, with little</span><span class="text0"> description of details such as texture or local colour. </span>
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<span class="text0">
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<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text16">The colour has faded to little more than tints of      light and shade. But Reynolds particularly</span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text15">cautioned students to avoid over-sensuous</span><span class="text0"> </span><span class="text16">colouring. Bright colours, he warned,      could not produce ‘that solidity, </span><span class="text0">steadiness,      and simplicity of effect, which heroick subjects require.’ </span>
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2004-09-09T00:00:00
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actions: postures and motions adults baby Bible: New Testament children Christ cross family family Holy Family landscape man mother and child objects people reading, writing, printed matter religion and belief religious and ceremonial Saints scroll sitting society St John the Baptist St Joseph Virgin Mary woman wooded