The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 1, 2023

The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret

c. 1495

Filippino Lippi

(Italian, 1457–1504)

Italy, 15th century

Tempera and oil on wood

Framed: 184 x 186 x 9.5 cm (72 7/16 x 73 1/4 x 3 3/4 in.); Diameter: 153 cm (60 1/4 in.)

The Delia E. Holden Fund and a fund donated as a memorial to Mrs. Holden by her children: Guerden S. Holden, Delia Holden White, Roberta Holden Bole, Emery Holden Greenough, Gertrude Holden McGinley 1932.227

Location

118 Italian Renaissance

Fun Fact

This type of painting is known as a tondo, a circular work of art.

Description

Lippi’s sophisticated composition gracefully overlaps five figures in a round format. Oliviero Caraffa, Cardinal of Naples, commissioned this work, although Lippi probably painted it in Rome while working for the cardinal’s family, an example of the widespread taste across Italy for the art of Florence. Meticulously detailed still-life elements on the parapet, thick with symbolic meaning, reflect Lippi’s interest in northern European painting he would have seen in Florence. Likewise the classical architecture—referring to the pagan world cast off by Christianity—demonstrates his engagement with ancient art and architecture in Rome. Embellished with learned references and made with expensive materials, this painting would have actively inspired religious meditation and demonstrated the patrons’ courtly, civilized taste.

Provenance
1858-1898
Caraffa family, Palazzo Sant'Angelo, Naples
1898
Mrs. Samuel D. Warren, Boston
1928
Edward Warren, Lewes House, England
1929
H. A. Thomas
1932
Harry Woodbury Parsons, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
1932-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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. 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
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
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
Exhibition history

Special Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of the Late Mrs. S.D. Warren, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (April 1902).

Exhibition of Old Masters, Royal Academy, Burlington House, London (Jan. 4th - March 12th, 1904).

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).

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

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

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

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1932.227