# The Holy Family, or La Perla [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RAFFAELLO Sanzio]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on wood, 147 x 116 cm ## Commentary The Holy Family, or La Perla c. 1518 Oil on wood, 147 x 116 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This painting, which the literature today tends to ascribe to Giulio Romano rather than Raphael, shows the Madonna in the foreground casting an affectionate eye on the young Christ Child and St John the Baptist, who play in front of her. With one hand she makes a reassuring gesture toward her own mather, St Anne, who is represented in a meditative position. St Joseph sits in the background to the left under the shelter of several ruined classical buildings. On the right there is a serene landscape illuminated by touches of pinkish light. The painting was in the collection of Philip IV of Spain who gave the picture its nickname, La Perla, because he considered it the "pearl" of his collection. ## Related artworks - [A Group of Nude Men]() - [A Group of Warriors]() - [A nude man advancing to the right \(verso\)]() - [A Soldier before the Cell of St Peter]() - [A Youthful Warrior \(recto\)]() - [Adam and Eve \(ceiling panel\)]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aldobrandini Madonna \(Garvagh Madonna\)]() - [Allegory \(The Knight's Dream\)]() - [Amorini at play \(verso\)]() - [An Angel]() - [Angel \(fragment of the Baronci Altarpiece\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()