(? 1431/6–1516 Venice)
The Holy Family,
oil on panel laid down on panel, 85 x 122.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Jacob Heimann, Los Angeles;
with French and Co., New York, by 1955;
Collection of Countess Nadia de Navarro (1916–2014), Glen Head, New York;
sale, Christie’s, New York, 14 April 2016, lot 111 (as Studio of Givanni Bellini):
sale, Christie’s, New York, 31 October 2017, lot 24 (as Studio of Giovanni Bellini);
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
B. Berenson, Pitture Italiane del Rinascimento, La Scuola Veneta, London 1958, I, p. 37, fig. 244 (as Giovanni Bellini, under ‘Senza Casa’);
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice 1962, I, p. 18, no. 55a, II, fig. 221 (as Giovanni Bellini (?) –’Con la sola fotografia non è possibile decidere se il quadro sia autografo di Giovanni Bellini. A quanto pare, di buona qualità’);
R. De Grada, Arte Europea da una Collezione Americana, exhibition catalogue, Milan, 1964, p. 16, pl. 8 (as Giovanni Bellini)

Exhibited:
Milan, Palazzo Reale, Arte Europea da una Collezione Americana, March-April 1964, no. 8 (as Giovanni Bellini)

The present painting has been traditionally given to Giovanni Bellini and this work displays strong similarities to the late work of this celebrated Venetian artist. The stylistic comparisons are particularly apparent in the subtle modeling of form which is created using light soft brushstrokes, together with a refined depiction of diffused light. Such qualities can also be seen in Giovanni Bellini´s Noah in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon and the Circumcision in the National Gallery, London.

The quality of execution and the stylistic characteristics of the present painting led the celebrated art historian Bernard Berenson to published the present painting as an autograph work by Giovanni Bellini in Italian Painting of the Renaissance (see literature). However, Fritz Heinemann could not give a definite opinion on the attribution on the basis of a photograph, but judged the present work to be of high quality – ‘di buona qualità’ (see literature). According to the exhibition catalogue of 1964, in which the present painting was included, Wilhelm Suida viewed the painting in Venice in 1937 and believed it to be one of the last of the compositions with the Madonna that Giovanni Bellini painted, According to the catalogue note Lionello Venturi and Wilhelm R. Valentiner also believed the present work to be an autograph work by Giovanni Bellini and Ridolfo Pallucchini also dated this work to Giovanni Bellini’s last period of circa 1510. Palluchini also noted the influence of Giorgione in the painting’s landscape. The basis of his assertion came from a comparison with the Madonna and Child in the Detroit Institute of Arts, (dated 1509) and the Madonna and Child in the Brera, Milan (dated 1510).

Giovanni Bellini was a leading protagonist of the Italian High Renaissance and with his pictorial use of light and colour he profoundly revolutionised Venetian late 15th century painting. He was born into a celebrated family of artists and trained in the studio of his father Jacopo together with his older brother Gentile. Bellini´s sister married the painter Andrea Mantegna and it has been argued that the sculptural quality in Giovanni´s painting derives from his influence. This dynastic artistic legacy would be inherited by Titian and Venetian painting would become one of the dominant forces in the history of art.