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A young woman sitting with a nude infant lying in her lap is flanked on either side by an older woman to our left and an elderly man with a nude young boy to our right in this vertical painting. They all have pale skin tinged with blue. At the center, the young woman, Mary, is draped in a cobalt-blue mantle that partially covers her head and falls to her shoulders to wrap around a dusky rose-pink gown. The mantle is pushed back from one side of her head, revealing dark brown hair. Her right arm embraces the shoulders of the old woman standing next to her, to our left, who leans toward Mary. A tangerine-orange cloak wraps around the older woman and her hair is covered by a white cowl. Both women have long faces and noses with deep set eyes under thick arched brows, and they gaze down at the infant. The mostly bald, pudgy baby lies across a white piece of fabric, two corners of which are held up by the older woman. Another young boy stands alongside Mary to our right. He faces us, holding a basket or glass bowl containing oval-shaped caramel-brown objects the size of figs in one hand. His elongated head is crowned with tawny brown hair, and his face turns away from the infant to gaze off to our right. One finger of his left hand, on our right, rests alongside his rose-red lips. The elderly man stands behind him, leaning over Mary’s shoulder to look at the older woman. We see him from the waist up with a golden-yellow cloak layered over an olive-green vest, and the arm we see is clad in a white sleeve. The group takes up most of the height of the composition and are crowded together against an azure-blue sky swirling with thin gray and white clouds. The scene is painted largely with long strokes of saturated color. The dark gray ground below is painted with sketchy strokes of white, blue, and pink.

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)

The Holy Family with Saint Anne and the Infant John the Baptist, c. 1595/1600

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 53.2 x 34.4 cm (20 15/16 x 13 9/16 in.)

framed: 73 x 54.6 x 6.4 cm (28 3/4 x 21 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1959.9.4

Artists / Makers

El Greco (painter) Greek, 1541 - 1614

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Probably in El Greco's studio at the time of his death;[1] probably his son, Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli, Toledo.[2] Carlos Beistegui, Paris and Venice.[3] Michael Dreicer [1868-1921], New York;[4] bequeathed by him in 1921 to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it was displayed 1922-1933;[5] returned 1933 to Dreicer's heirs, who had challenged his will;[6] Michael Dreicer's widow, Maisie Dreicer Whyte de Kerchove [1889-1976, née Shainwald], by 1937;[7] consigned in the 1940s to (Paul Drey Gallery, New York);[8] sold or consigned 24 February 1948 to (French & Co., New York);[9] sold 7 December 1949 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[10] gift 1959 to NGA.

[1] This seems probable because the painting appears to have been owned by the artist's son in 1621 (see note 2). Because the inventory of El Greco's estate in 1614 does not include measurements, it is difficult to identify the National Gallery painting with a specific reference in this document. However, if the painting was given the same title in 1614 as in 1621, it can probably be identified as "Una imagen, con el niño dormido y S. Joseph y Santa ana y S. Jn bautista" ("An image with the sleeping child and Saint Joseph and Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist"); Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, El Greco en Toledo, Madrid, 1910: 192. However, as Harold E. Wethey, El Greco and His School, Princeton, 1962: 2:59, suggests, the National Gallery painting might have been described as "Una imagen con el Niño y s. Joseph y S. Ana no acabada ("An unfinished painting with the Child and Saint Joseph and Saint Anne"). See Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, El Greco en Toledo, Madrid, 1910: 193.

[2] No. 16 in the inventory made of his possessions in 1621 reads: "Una ymagen con su niño dormido santa ana y san Joseph y San Ju bautista, y quadro dorado, tiene de ancho casi media bara y de alto dos terzias" ("An image [of the Virgin] with the Child sleeping, Saint Anne and Saint Joseph and Saint John the Baptist, and a gilded frame, measures in width almost half a vara and in height almost two-thirds"). Francisco de Borja de San Román y Fernández, "De la vida del Greco," Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 3 (1927): 288. Because a vara (a traditional Spanish measurement) equals approximately 84 cm, no. 16 of the inventory would have been 42 cm in width and 56 cm in height. These figures are close to the measurements of the NGA painting. El Greco's other interpretations of the subject are significately larger. Compare Wethey 1962, 2:58, 59, nos. 85, 87. The copies of El Greco's other paintings of the subject are significately larger than the NGA painting. Compare Wethey 1962, 2:189-190, nos. X-105 through X-109.

[3] Wethey 1962, 2:60, no. 88. According to a letter from Mrs. Wethey dated 2 August 1988, in NGA curatorial files, Beistegui was "a fabulously rich Argentinian of Spanish descent...who lived for many years in Europe" and once owned the eighteenth-century Palazzo Labia in Venice.

[4] Michael Dreicer, Collection of Michael Dreicer, New York, no date: 4, 15. Dreicer preferred to collect exclusively small-scale paintings like the present example. See Macdonald Parish-Watson, "Art and the Businessman: A Note on the Michael Dreicer Collection," Arts and Decoration 15 (1921): 249-295, 319.

[5] Harry B. Wehle, "The Michael Dreicer Collection," Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 17 (1922): 100, 103; Bryson Burroughs, Catalogue of Paintings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1931: 145, no. G791-2.

[6] Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian, Oxford, 1977: 202, no. 1527.

[7] M. Legendre and A. Hartmann, Domenikos Theotokopoulos Called El Greco, Paris, 1937: 144, where the painting's owner is identified as "private collection, London." This individual and the European collector resident in New York (see note 8), was very likely Michael Dreicer's widow, Maisie Shainwald Dreicer, who, after her first husband's death, traveled frequently between New York and Europe. Born Maisie Seville Shainwald, she married twice more, first, in 1923, to the British engineer and naval architect, Jardine Bell Whyte (1880-1954), and second, after their divorce, in February 1935 to Baron René de Kerchove d'Exaerde (1883-1971), author of International Maritime Dictionary, first published in 1948. After her third marriage she was known as the Baroness de Kerchove. Dr. Tara Mitchell Mielnik, of the Metropolitan Historical Commission in Nashville, kindly shared her research about the Baroness; see her e-mails of 8 July 2010 and 24 September 2010, in NGA curatorial files.

[8] Robert Carlucci of the Paul Drey Gallery, letter of 4 August 1988, NGA curatorial files, wrote that the painting was owned during the early 1940's by a European collector resident in New York, who still owned it in 1947, and who consigned it to the Paul Drey Gallery "for some period of time." See note 7.

[9] French & Co. stock records at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, stock no. 79690A. A sizeable group of paintings from the Baroness was recorded in the French & Co. stockbooks in 1948. French & Co. sent the painting out to the Paul Drey Gallery in May 1948; no date of return is recorded.

[10] French & Co. stock records at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2196.

Associated Names

Beistegui, Carlos, Don
Dreicer heirs
Dreicer, Michael
Drey Gallery, Paul
El Greco
French & Company LLC
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, The
Theotocópuli, Jorge Manuel
de Kerchove, Maisie Shainwald Dreicer Whyte

Exhibition History

1941: Spanish Painting, The Toledo [Ohio] Museum of Art, 1941, no. 43.

1950: The Samuel H. Kress Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1950, no. 17.

1956: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1956, no. 35.

1982: El Greco of Toledo, The Toledo [Ohio] Museum of Art; Prado, Madrid; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982-1983, 116, 234, 239, no. 26, pl. 45.

1990: El Greco of Crete: Exhibition on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of his birth, Iraklion, Crete, Greece, 1990, no. 16, 234, color repro. 235, 370-371.

1996: Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 38-39, color repro.

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 80, repro.

2014: El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2014-2015, no catalogue.

2022: Out of the Kress Vaults: Women in Sacred Renaissance Painting, Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, CT, 2022, no. 12, repro.

Technical Summary

The support is a plain-weave fabric, lined to a slightly coarser fabric of the same type. The tacking edges have been cropped, but the original format has presumably been retained. The reddish-brown imprimatura applied above the thin ground was left exposed in several places, notably in the sky and in the unfinished area at the bottom. Oil colors were applied thinly in a wet-on-wet technique and with a semitransparent layering of colors. In areas of moderate relief, oil colors with a more pastelike consistency were applied over already dried layers. X-radiographs reveal no significant pentimenti. There is a four-inch-wide tear to the left of the center of the fabric.

Another large loss is located on Saint John's stomach. Overall, the surface shows solvent abrasion and many glazes have broken through. Much of the retouching has discolored. Weave interference from the lining fabric is visible on the surface.

Bibliography

1922: Wehle, Harry B. "The Michael Dreicer Collection." Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 17 (1922): 103-106.

1926: Mayer, August L. Dominico Theotocopuli, El Greco. Munich, 1926: 8, no. 31, pl. 32.

1931: Burroughs, Bryson. Catalogue of Paintings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1931: 145, no. G791-2.

1931: Mayer, August L. El Greco. Berlin, 1931: 83.

1937: Legendre, Maurice, and Alfred Hartmann. Domenikos Theotokopoulos Called El Greco. Paris, 1937: 144, repro.

1941: Gudiol y Ricart, José. "Span of Spanish Painting: 1150-1828." Art News 40 (1 April, 1941): 17.

1950: Camón Aznar, José. Dominico Greco. 2 vols. Madrid, 1950: 1:581; 2:1370, no. 242 (also 1970 rev. ed., 1:588, fig. 477; 2:1352, no. 254).

1956: Walker, John. "The Nation's Newest Old Masters." The National Geographic Magazine 110, no. 5 (November 1956): 634.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 270, repro., as The Holy Family.

1959: Richardson, E. P., ed. "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1959." The Art Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1959): 277.

1962: Wethey, Harold E. El Greco and His School. 2 vols. Princeton, 1962: 1:46, fig. 102; 2:59-60, no. 88 (also Spanish ed. Madrid, 1967: 1:62-63, pl. 87; 2:74-75, no. 88).

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 63, as The Holy Family.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 54, repro., as The Holy Family.

1969: Manzini, Gianna, and Tiziana Frati. L'opera completa del Greco. Milan, 1969: no. 99b.

1972: Cossío, Manuel B. El Greco. Edited by Natalia Cossío de Jiménez. Barcelona, 1972: 358, no. 30.

1973: Gudiol y Ricart, José. Domenikos Theotokopoulos, El Greco. Translated by Kenneth Lyons. New York, 1973: 197, 349, no. 147, color fig. 175 (also 1983 ed.: 197, 349, no. 147, color fig. 175).

1974: Harris Frankfort, Enriqueta. "El Greco's Holy Family with the Child ...: An Image of Silence ...." In Hortus Imaginum, Essays in Western Art. Edited by R. Enggass and M. Stockard. Lawrence, Kansas, 1974: 103-111, fig. 69.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 164, repro., as The Holy Family.

1975: Lafuente Ferrari, Enrique, and José Manuel Pita Andrade. El Greco: The Expressionism of His Final Years. Translated by Robert E. Wolf. New York, 1975: 156, no. 26.

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 201-220, fig. 196, attributed to the studio of El Greco.

1982: Garrido, María del Carmen, and José María Cabrera. "Estudio técnico comparativo de dos Sagradas Familias del Greco." Boletín del Museo del Prado 3 (1982): 98.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 237, no. 305, color repro., as The Holy Family.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 189, repro.

1986: McKim-Smith, Gridley, María del Carmen Garrido, and Sarah L. Fisher. "A Note on Reading El Greco's Revisions: A Group of Paintings of the Holy Family." Studies in the History of Art 18 (1986): 67-77, figs. 1, 5.

1990: Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 72-77, color repro. 75.

1990: El Greco of Crete: Exhibition on the Occasion of the 450th Anniversary of his Birth. Exh. cat. Iraklion, 1990: 234, 370-371, color repro. 235.

2000: Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Materials and Meaning in the Fine Arts 1. New Haven, 2000: 197-199, fig. 211-216.