The Holy Family

Claude Mellan

National Gallery of Art

The image displays three figures. A woman is seated, holding a child on her lap. Both are shown from their torsos up. The woman looks down at the child. The child is naked and securely held in the woman's arms. Beside them, a man is kneeling on one knee, slightly higher than them, shown from head to waist. He has short hair, a beard, and is wearing a long garment, with one arm extended holding a cloth. The background consists of rustic elements with old brick or stone walls. A donkey is tethered behind the woman and child, with a small evergreen tree or bush in the upper left corner and a stone engraved slab or tablet in the lower left.