3-002-631 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Holy Family with St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalen, 1494-1495. In this intimate holy gathering, the Madonna supports the Christ Child's little foot and meets our gaze with a melancholic expression, as if aware that her son will one day sacrifice himself for humankind. The Christ Child fixatedly looks into the viewer's space with his right hand raised in a gesture of blessing. He is adored by his young cousin, John the Baptist, from the lower left. Also at the left is the Madonna's husband and Christ's earthly father, Saint Joseph. To the right is one of Christ's later followers, Saint Mary Magdalen, holding a gold and silver vessel containing the ointment she is said to have used to anoint Christ’s body after the Crucifixion. The figures are set against a green curtain which functions as a cloth of honor—denoting Christ and Mary's roles as King and Queen of Heaven—as well as a barrier between the figures and the distant landscape.