The Holy Family by Francesco Nenci

The artwork depicts the Virgin with Child, St. John the Baptist, and St. Joseph, with Zechariah and Elizabeth appearing in the background. The painting, considered “among the artist’s most distinguished works,” reveals his romantic and purist inclinations. It clearly draws inspiration from Raphael’s Florentine Madonnas, filtered through the Nazarene tradition; the influence of Renaissance painting is also apparent in the inclusion of the patron depicted as St. Joseph. The background landscape, on the other hand, reflects 17th-century models, an aspect Nenci admired and studied.