The Cleveland Museum of Art

• Full conservation statement
  The painting is in remarkable condition for its age. A comprehensive conservation treatment was completed in October of 2025 to address discolored varnish residues and disfiguring remnants of prior overpainting in the sky. X-radiography revealed that the panel is comprised of four large, vertically flat-sawn boards which are joined and reinforced with two original horizontal battens that fit within a mortise and tenon joint. The X-ray also revealed an inlay design with a repeating pattern of alternating diamonds and elongated lozenges within the battens. An in-depth technical imaging study of the painting was conducted in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art. This study is published in the exhibition catalogue for Filippino Lippi and Rome. An elaborate underdrawing visible with infrared reflectography (IRR) reveals Lippi’s use of a variety of materials to freely draft, refine, and revise elements within the underdrawing and underpainting stages. Notable changes visible within the IRR include his exploration of additional composition options including placing a bundle of drapery where Joseph now appears, as well as his use of a rough grid possibly used to plan the composition. Fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), cross-section samples, and scanning electron microscopy—energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS)—confirmed Lippi’s use of the following pigments: ultramarine, copper-based greens, lead-tin yellow, vermilion, insect-based red-lakes (kermes or lac source), lead white, earth pigments, and gilding. Ultramarine, the most expensive pigment at the time, is liberally used throughout the painting, even for the small rooftops lining the horizon.
• Provenance
  c. 1488-93–1511

  Presumably commissioned by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa(1430–1511), Rome

  1511–

  Presumably in Carafa collections by descent, Rome and Naples

  by 1815

  Palazzo Santangelo (formerly Palazzo Diomede Carafa until 1814), Naples

  1898–1901

  Acquired at Palazzo Diomded Carafa or at Villa Santangelo, Pollena, from the Santangelo family and Ignazio Virzì by Bernardo Berenson and Edward Perry Warren for Susan Cornelia Clarke (Mrs. Samuel Dennis Warren Sr.) (1825–1901), Boston

  1901–1928

  By descent to Cornelia, Edward, Fiske, and Samuel Warren in Boston and Lewes House, East Sussex, United Kingdom

  1928–1929

  Bequeathed to H. Asa Thomas by Edward Warren (1860–1928)

  1929

  Sold by H. Asa Thomas through Harold Woodbury Parsons to the Cleveland Museum of Art

  1932

  The Cleveland Museum of Art
• Citations
  Celano, Carlo. Notizie del bello dell'antico e del curioso della città di Napoli: divise dall'autore in 10 giornate per guida e comodo de'viaggiatori ; con aggiunzioni de'piu' notabili miglioramenti posteriori fino al presente estratti dalla storia de' monumenti e dalle memorie di eruditi scrittori Napolitani. 3 3. Napoli: Chiurazzi, 1858. p. 691

  Crowe, J. A., and G. B. Cavalcaselle. A New History of Painting in Italy, From the Second to the Sixteenth Century. London: J. Murray, 1864. p. 450

  John Murray (Firm). A Handbook for Travellers in Southern Italy: Being a Guide for the Provinces Formerly Constituting the Continental Portion of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. London: J. Murray, 1868. p. 183

  Berenson, Bernard "U chef-d'oeuvre Inédit de Filippino Lippi," Revue Archéologique, vol. XXXVII (1900). pp. 238-243, pl. XI

  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Special Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of the Late Mrs. S.D. Warren. Boston: Mudge, 1902. cat. no. 87

  Berenson, Bernard. The Study and Criticism of Italian Art. Second Series. London: Bell, 1910. pp. 92-96

  Colasanti, Arduino "Miscellanea: Nuovi Dipinti di Filippo e di Filippino Lippi," l'Arte, vol 9 (1903) pp. 299-304

  Colasanti, Arduino "Two Unpublished Pictures by Fra Filippo and filippino Lippi," The Connoisseur, vol. VII (1903) p. 233, p. 304

  Royal Academy of Arts (London). Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School, Including a Special Selection of Works by Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. and Also a Collection of Sculpture and Bronzes. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1904. cat. no. 13

  Frizoni, Gustavo "La pinacoteca Strossmayer nel'Accademia di Scienze ed Arti in Agram." L'Arte vol. VII (1904). pp. 427-429, fig. 3

  Richter, Louise M. "Correspondence d'Anglaterre: Les Maitres Anciens à Burlington House," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XXXI (1904). pp. 424, 426

  Konody, Paul G. Filippino Lippi. London: G. Newnes, limited, 1905. pp. xii, xv-xvi, xxiii

  Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. New York: Putnam's Sons, 1909. pp. 121, 144

  Venturi, A. Storia dell'Arte italiana. La pittura del Quattrocento 7, 1-4 7, 1-4. 1911. p. 658

  Crowe, J. A., G. B. Cavalcaselle, Langton Douglas, and G. De Nicola. A History of Painting in Italy: Umbria, Florence and Siena from the Second to the Sixteenth Century : in Six Volumes Illustrated. Vol. 4, Vol. 4. London: J. Murray, 1911. pp. 290-91

  Graves, Algernon. Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912. London: Graves, 1913. p. 709

  H. S. F. "A Tondo by Filippino Lippi." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 19, no. 9 (1932). pp. 146-159 www.jstor.org

  Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition : June Twenty-Sixth to October Fourth 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: [Cleveland Museum of Art], 1936. Reproduced, preface; Cat. no. 17

  Hauptmann, Moritz. Der Tondo; Ursprung, Bedeutung und Geschichte des italienischen Rundbildes in Relief und Malerei. Frankfurt am Main: V. Klostermann, 1936. pp. 222-23

  Neilson, Katharine B., and Filippino Lippi. Filippino Lippi, a Critical Study. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1938. pp. 116, 121-125, 133- 134, 195, fig. 54

  The Drawings of the Florentine Painters 1, 1. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr, 1938. p. 105

  Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti. Katalog Strossmayerove galerije. Zagreb: Jugoslavenska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti, 1939. no. 24, p. 54

  Tietze, Hans. Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1939. p. 61

  Burdett, Osbert, and E. H. Goddard. Edward Perry Warren; The Biography of a Connoisseur. London: Christophers, 1941. pp. 72, 80, 130, 209, 228, 411

  "Cleveland Offers the Evidence for the First 25 Years," Art News, (September, 1941). p. 25

  Milliken, William. "Silver Jubilee Exhibition." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 28, no.6 (June 1941): 88-108 Mentioned: p. 92; Reproduced: p. 93 www.jstor.org

  Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. 50 archive.org

  Scharf, Alfred. Filippino Lippi. Wien: Schroll, 1950. pp. 34, 55, pls. 81-85

  Art News (February, 1951). p. 30

  Republic Reports (Republic Steel Corp publication) (December 1953).

  The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 401 archive.org

  Gamba, Fiammetta, and Filippino Lippi. Filippino Lippi nella storia della critica. Firenze: Edizioni Arnaud, 1958. pp. 55, 103, n. 36

  Cleveland Museum of Art, and William Mathewson Milliken. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1958. p. 31

  Davis, Douglas " Between Two Worlds," Newsweek vol. LXXVII (August 2, 1971). p. 58

  Canaday, John. Metropolitan Seminars in Art. [New York]: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1959. p. 7, pl. E2 libmma.contentdm.oclc.org

  Berenson, Bernard. I disegni dei pittori fiorentini. Milano: Electa editrice, 1961. pp. 252-268

  Pontificia Università lateranense. Bibliotheca sanctorum. Roma: Istituto Giovanni XXIII nella Pontificia Università lateranense, 1961. p. 1090

  Moskowitz, Ira, and Victoria Thorson. Great Drawings of All Time. New York: Shorewood Publishers, 1962. no. 126

  Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places : Florentine School. London: Phaidon Press, 1963. p. 108, vol. II, pl. 1150

  The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 91 archive.org

  Joseph Alsop, "Treasures of the Clevleand Museum of Art," Art in America (May-June 1966). p. 23 & 27

  Cleveland Museum of Art. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. 1967. p. 121

  The Motor (December, 1968). p. 4

  The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 91 archive.org

  Schug, Albert "Zur Ikonographie von Leonardos Londoner Karton, II. Teil," Pantheon XXVII (1969). p. 31, no. 29

  Pillsbury, Edmund P. Florence and the Arts; Five Centuries of Patronage. 1971. Cat. No. 10

  Sherrill, Sarah B. "Current and Coming," The Magazine Antiques vol. 100 (July 1971). p. 30

  Wasserman, Jack. "The Dating and Patronage of Leonardo's Burlington House Cartoon." The Art Bulletin 53, no. 3 (1971), p. 314, fig. 3 www.jstor.org

  Cooper, Barbara, and Maureen Matheson. The World Museums Guide, Edited by Barbara Cooper & Maureen Matheson. London: Threshold Books Ltd, 1973. p. 78

  Berenson, Bernard, and Hanna Kiel. Looking at Pictures with Bernard Berenson. New York: Abrams, 1974. pp. 198-9

  Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 1. European Paintings before 1500. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Reproduced: fig. 29, p. 76 - 79, colorplate XV

  The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 93 archive.org

  Hodder, Michael J., and Q. David Bowers. The Norweb Collection: An American Legacy. Wolfeboro, N.H.: Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1987. p. 28

  Berti, Luciano, Filippino Lippi, and Umberto Baldini. Filippino Lippi. Firenze: Edizioni d'arte Il Fiorino, 1991. pp. 46, 88-89, 206, no. 63

  Cleveland Museum of Art. Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. 1991. no. 13

  Lippi, Filippino, George R. Goldner, Carmen Bambach, and Alessandro Cecchi. The Drawings of Filippino Lippi and His Circle. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997. p. 77, pl 34, p. 12 & 264

  Olson, Roberta J. M. The Florentine Tondo. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. fig. 7.25

  May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. p. 117

  Lippi, Filippino, Perugino, Franca Falletti, and Jonathan Katz Nelson. Filippino Lippi e Pietro Perugino: la Deposizione della Santissima Annunziata e il suo restauro. Livorno: Sillabe, 2004. fig. 4, p. 123

  Humfrey, Peter. Glasgow Museums - the Italian Paintings. London: Unicorn Press, 2012. p. 51, fig. 1

  Ainsworth, Maryan W. and Ana Sanchez-Lassa. "La Sagrada Familia de Jan Gossart." Buletina Boletin 6. Bilbao: Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, (2012). p. 78, fig. 3

  Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 173

  “A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 14 archive.org

  Cleveland Museum of Art. Sketchbook: Michelangelo: Mind of the Master. Cleveland Museum of Art; Cleveland, Ohio, 2019. Reproduced: P. 4

  Eliot W Rowlands, ‘An indefatigable intermediary’: Harold Woodbury Parsons (1882–1967) and the formation of the European collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art: part 1, Journal of the History of Collections. p. 5 academic.oup.com

  Derosa, Luisa, and Andrea Leonardi. Il museo che non c'è: arte, collezionismo, gusto antiquario nel Palazzo degli Studi di Bari : (1875-1928). Firenze: Edifir - Edizioni Firenze, 2020, 186. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 185-186, fig. 16.

  Rowlands, Eliot W. "An indefatigable intermediary: Harold Woodbury Parsons (1882-1967) and the formation of the European collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art: part 2." Journal of the History of Collections 33, no.1 (2021): 93-109. Reproduced p.97; mentioned p. 96-103

  Noelle, Alexander J., and Cleveland Museum of Art. Filippino Lippi and Rome. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 110-111, no. 9

  Nelson, Jonathan K. “Searching for Hybridity: Filippino Lippi’s “Distant Views and Other Fantasies.”” In Filippino Lippi and Rome, Alexander J. Noelle, 14-23. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 14-15, fig.1

  Noelle, Alexander J. “Filippino Lippi, Cardinal Carafa, and the Cleveland Holy Family Tondo.” In Filippino Lippi and Rome, Alexander J. Noelle, 27-49. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 36-49, fig. 28, no. 9

  Ly, Juliana, Kathryn Dooley, John Delaney, and Dean Yoder. “Iteration and Execution: Visualizing Filippino Lippi’s Technique.” In Filippino Lippi and Rome, Alexander J. Noelle, 76-87. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: Throughout, figs. 54-70, no. 9

  "Supporter Story: Henry Ott-Hansen.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 1 (2025): 28-29. Reproduced: p. 29 archive.org

  Noelle, Alexander J. "Filippino Lippi and Rome: A Renaissance Painter Reimagines Antiquity.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 3 (2025): 8-9. Reproduced: p. 8; Mentioned: p. 9 archive.org
• Exhibition History
  Filippino Lippi and Rome. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 26, 2025-February 22, 2026).

  Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).

  Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).

  Classic to Baroque: A Style Change in the Arts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30-November 13, 1949).

  The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).

  Exhibition of Old Masters, Royal Academy, Burlington House, London (January 4–March 12, 1904).

  Special Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of the Late Mrs. S.D. Warren, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (April 1902).
• Cite this Page
  {{cite web|title=The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret|url=false|author=Filippino Lippi|year=c. 1488–93|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}