The Holy Family with Four Saints and a Female Donor

Description

Here, the infant Jesus sits in a central position on the lap of his mother, Mary, with Saint John the Evangelist nearby, holding a golden chalice. The half-length representation of a kneeling woman at the bottom right represents the donor who commissioned the painting, likely for a small church or private chapel. This type of composition, with several figures grouped around the Holy Family and a donor present, is known as a sacra conversazione (sacred conversation) and was popular in 16th-century Italy.

Antonio Rimpatta was probably born in Bologna before relocating to Naples. He traveled frequently throughout central Italy, where he absorbed the characteristics of a variety of painters, resulting in an eclectic style.

Provenance

Acquired either by James Hughes Smith-Barry (1746?–1801) or by his eldest son John Smith-Barry (b. 1793), both of Marbury Hall, near Northwich, Cheshire, and Fota Island, County Cork, Ireland; by descent to Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry (d. 1925), first and last Lord Barrymore; by descent to his daughter the Honorable Mrs. Dorothy Elizabeth Bell of Fota Island, County Cork, Ireland; sold Sotheby’s, London, June 21, 1933, no. 44 (ill.), as Boltraffio. Sold Sotheby’s, London, March 23, 1960, no. 116 (ill.), as Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, to H. M. Calmann [according to annotated sale catalogue, Ryerson Library, the Art Institute of Chicago]. H. M. Calmann, London, 1960–63; sold by Calmann to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1963.

The Holy Family with Four Saints and a Female Donor

Antonio Rimpatta

c. 1510

Accession Number

111250

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

125.3 × 120 cm (49 3/8 × 47 1/4 in.); Framed: 147.4 × 141.7 × 10.2 cm (58 × 55 3/4 × 4 in.)

Classification

oil on panel

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Clyde M. Carr Fund