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The Holy Family with Four Saints and a Female Donor

Antonio Rimpatta (Italian, documented from 1509–died 1531/32)

c. 1510

Medium: Oil on panel
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: 125.3 × 120 cm (49 3/8 × 47 1/4 in.); Framed: 147.4 × 141.7 × 10.2 cm (58 × 55 3/4 × 4 in.)
Culture: Italy
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Credit line: Clyde M. Carr Fund
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

About this work

Here, the infant Jesus sits in a central position on the lap of his mother, Mary, with Saint John the Evangelist nearby, holding a golden chalice. The half-length representation of a kneeling woman at the bottom right represents the donor who commissioned the painting, likely for a small church or private chapel. This type of composition, with several figures grouped around the Holy Family and a donor present, is known as a sacra conversazione (sacred conversation) and was popular in 16th-century Italy.

Antonio Rimpatta was probably born in Bologna before relocating to Naples. He traveled frequently throughout central Italy, where he absorbed the characteristics of a variety of painters, resulting in an eclectic style.