Holy Family

1725 · Private collection

religious

Magatti adopts a joyful mode in his depiction of the Holy Family: Joseph is a true and playful participant as he dangles two bright red cherries near the Christ Child's hand, a welcome colour notation in a composition dominated by greens that modulate from almond to bottle-green tonalities.

About the Artist

Pietro Antonio Magatti

1691 – 1767

Italian painter. He studied with Giovan Gioseffo dal Sole, but was also influenced by the seventeenth century Lombard painting (Our Lady of the Rosary, Varese, San Vittore). Subsequently he was affected by Venetian painting (e.g. Martyrdom of Saints Quirico and Giuditta, c. 1735, in Pavia, oratory Mezzabarba Palace).

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