The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist

Art Historical Context

This intimate engraving captures a tender moment from the Holy Family’s life, showing the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, the Christ Child, and the young Saint John the Baptist gathered together in a quiet domestic interior. The scene emphasizes everyday human warmth—Christ and John appear to share a simple meal—while underscoring the sacred bonds between these figures. Created as an engraving by Friedrich Fleischmann after a composition by the Renaissance master Correggio, the print translates the soft modeling and gentle lighting of the original painting into crisp black-and-white lines. Engravings like this one played a vital role in the early nineteenth century, allowing wider audiences to study and enjoy celebrated works from earlier centuries. Produced between 1810 and 1834, Fleischmann’s small-scale print (roughly five inches square) exemplifies the period’s renewed interest in reproducing Italian Renaissance art for collectors and scholars across Europe. Its inclusion in the Metropolitan Museum’s Elisha Whittelsey Collection highlights how such prints helped shape public appreciation of religious imagery long before photography became widespread. The compact format and precise linework invite close looking, revealing both Correggio’s graceful grouping of figures and Fleischmann’s skill in conveying texture and light through the engraving medium.

About the Artist

Friedrich Fleischmann|Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (German|Italian) · 1791 |1514 –1834 |1534

German, Nuremberg 1791–1834 Munich|Italian, Correggio, active by 1514–died 1534 Correggio