Italian school; 18th century. "Holy Family". Oil on canvas. Re-coloured. It presents repainting and restorations. Measurements: 63 x 52 cm; 76 x 65 cm (frame). Scene of devotional character in which we can appreciate the presence of Saint Joseph, the Virgin and the Child. It is worth noting that the Child is portrayed in the foreground, the Virgin Mary in the background and St. Joseph in the background. The three are set in an interior of dark tones, illuminated by the flesh tones of the figures and the halo of the Virgin. The scene is intimate in character, as despite the hieratic nature of the figures, the Virgin and Child share a cross as a kind of play and complicity between them. In the most common sense of the expression, the Holy Family includes the closest relatives of the Child Jesus, i.e. mother and grandmother or mother and nurturing father. In both cases, whether it is Saint Anne or Saint Joseph who appears, it is a group of three figures. From an artistic point of view, the arrangement of this terrestrial Trinity poses the same problems and suggests the same solutions as the heavenly Trinity. However, the difficulties are fewer. It is no longer a question of a single God in three persons, whose essential unity must be expressed at the same time as his diversity. The three personages are united by a blood link, certainly, but they do not constitute an indivisible block. Moreover, all three are represented in human form, while the dove of the Holy Spirit introduces a zoomorphic element into the divine Trinity that is difficult to combine with two anthropomorphic figures. On the other hand, this iconography was traditionally, until the Counter-Reformation, a representation of the Virgin and Child with the figure of Saint Joseph in the foreground. It was not until the reforms of Trent that Saint Joseph began to take centre stage as the protector and guide of the Infant Jesus. Dimensions 63 x 52 cm; 76 x 65 cm (frame).