Tuscan school; second third of the XVI century.

Tuscan school; second third of the sixteenth century.
"Holy family".
Oil on panel.
It presents faults and restorations.
It has a stamp on the back.
Measurements: 75 x 59.5 cm; 93 x 79 cm (frame).
This oil on panel, attributable to the Tuscan School and dated in the second third of the XVI century, represents an intimate and deeply symbolic scene of the Holy Family, in which also appears the small San Juan Bautista. It is a composition of remarkable formal richness and devotional content, inscribed in the great pictorial tradition of the Italian Renaissance, in which the monumentality of the figures, compositional serenity and psychological depth converge in a visual discourse of great eloquence.
At the center of the work, the Virgin Mary appears seated, robust and serene, holding the Infant Jesus, who turns to his cousin St. John in a gesture of affectionate closeness. This interaction between the two infants, one divine, the other prophetic, constitutes a recurring iconographic motif in Renaissance art, alluding to the prefiguration of Christ's redemptive mission.
The figures have a sculptural weight that refers to the Michelangelesque heritage, so influential in the Tuscan sphere of the time. The bodies, solid and harmonious, are arranged with a balance that denotes a profound knowledge of anatomy and space, while the faces, delicately modeled, convey a restrained expression. The treatment of color accentuates the volumetry of the figures and creates an atmosphere of soft solemnity, in which the light models the forms.

The Tuscan School of the 16th century, direct heir of the great masters of the Quattrocento such as Masaccio and Fra Angelico, and contemporary of such decisive figures as Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo or Rosso Fiorentino, occupies a central place in the evolution of Western art. His importance lies not only in his refined pictorial technique and his mastery of drawing - the foundation of Renaissance art - but also in his ability to articulate a profoundly humanistic visual language, in which the sacred is represented with an emotional immediacy unheard of until then. This work embodies precisely that spirit: a serene, meditated religiosity, manifested through the idealized beauty of the human body and a composition conceived with intellectual wisdom.