Saint Mary Cleophas and Her Family

Bernhard Strigel

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a group of seven people gathered together, three adults and four children. On the left, woman in a blue dress, green cloak, and white headscarf is holding a nude child on her lap. She is seated on what appears to be a brown bench. Two other children stand by her knees, playing with the child on her lap. Two men stand next to the woman on the right, one a younger bearded man in a red robe and tall red hat, and the other an older man wearing a fur-lined jacket over a peach-toned shirt and a yellow cap over his hair. In front of this group, near the bottom left corner, a fourth child in a white robe sits or crouches on the ground, holding a long T-shaped staff with white squares of cloth at the top. A small brown dog on the right is biting the staff. All seven people have pale skin, and the woman and children all have golden halos around their heads. At the top of the painting, the background is gilded in textured gold, while the floor at the bottom is gray.