Battista Dossi, Holy Family with St. John the Baptist
1535-40
Panel, 19.7 x 22 in. (50 x 56 cm.)
Palazzo Cini, Venice
The other boy in the painting can be identified as the young John the Baptist by the cross and banderole resting on his thigh, a common feature of portraits of John as an adult. Visible on the banderole is a part of the phrase ecce agnus dei, "behold the Lamb of God," which John will say of Jesus (John 1:29, 1:36).
In the previous century it had been quite common to picture the Christ Child naked. After the time of this painting, however, artists started to cover the genitals with a wisp of cloth or some other device. The assumed purpose of the nakedness was to emphasize Christ's true humanity, although that would not explain why little John is also naked.
As in the more commonly pictured episode of the palm tree miracle, St. Joseph has plucked some figs from the large tree at left. It was conventional at this time to picture him as an old man.
The ruined
plinths
a plinth is the base of a classical column
suggest the demise of the old pagan culture. The growth of new shoots from the stump in the background may conversely suggest the coming of the New Covenant out of the Old.
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Read more about images of the Flight into Egypt.
Photographed at the Palazzo Cini by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.