The Holy Family
Medium
Etching on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Plate: 13.7 × 19.8 cm (5 7/16 × 7 13/16 in.); Sheet: 14.7 × 20.6 cm (5 13/16 × 8 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
149581
Art Historical Context
Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld’s *The Holy Family* captures the tender intimacy of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, and the Christ Child in a delicately rendered scene. Active in the early nineteenth century, Schnorr belonged to the Nazarene movement, a circle of German artists who sought to revive the spiritual depth and precise draftsmanship of early Renaissance masters such as Dürer. His choice of a timeless biblical subject reflects the Nazarenes’ desire to restore moral and religious seriousness to art during an age of rapid social change. Executed as an etching on smooth ivory wo...
About the Artist
Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld · 1788–1853
Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1788–1853) was a German Romantic painter, engraver, and lithographer who spent most of his life in Vienna, becoming a pivotal figure in the city's artistic circles. Born in Königsberg to artist Veit Hanns Schnorr von Carolsfeld, he trained initially under his father before moving to Vienna at age sixteen. There, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in 18...