3-035-483 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Holy Family (The Madonna del Velo; Madonna di Loreto), mid-16th century. The infant Christ Child reclines on pillows while the Virgin Mary lovingly gazes down at him. She holds a transparent veil in her hands toward which the child playfully extends his hands. In the shadows behind the Virgin, Joseph watches the happy scene. This intimate and touching view of the Holy Family exemplifies the Renaissance fascination with Jesus's humanity. The Virgin's beauty and youth, the child's pudgy body, and their warm smiles enhance the sense of the Holy Family as ordinary, loving, and ultimately very human.