The Holy Family with the Infant St John the Baptist in a Landscape

1590 · National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

religious

Calvaert was born in Antwerp, but travelled to Italy in about 1560, where he remained for the rest of his life, and chiefly worked on religious commissions. In Bologna he played an especially important role as a teacher for the next generation of Italian artists: Guido Rent, Francesco Albani and Domenichino were among his pupils. This is a characteristic example of Calvaert's small devotional paintings, of a type that he produced in large numbers.

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The Holy Family with the Infant St John the Baptist in a Landscape

About the Artist

Denys Calvaert

1540 – 1619

Flemish painter from Antwerp who emigrated to Italy in about 1562 and remained there for the rest of his life. (In Italy he was called Dionisio Fiammingo.) He settled in Bologna, and although his work is in an undistinguished Mannerist style, he played an important role as a teacher. He established an academy in 1572 and had more than 100 pupils, among whom were some of the most distinguished artists of the Bolognese School - Albani, Domenichino and Reni. The more celebrated academy of the Carracci was probably inspired by Calvaert's.

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