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The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist

Artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Venetian, March 5, 1696–March 27, 1770)
Title The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist
Date Ca. 1755
Medium Brown ink and gray wash over traces of black chalk on paper
Dimensions Sheet: 9 1/8 x 7 7/8 in. (23.2 x 20 cm)
Framed: 18 1/2 × 16 1/2 × 1 1/8 in. (47 × 41.9 × 2.9 cm)
Credit Line The Anthony Moravec Collection of Old Master Drawings, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 2010.127

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About this Work

Drawn at least fifteen years after his The Flight into Egypt series, this is a superb example of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s mature graphic style, and is one of seventy drawings exploring the theme of the Holy Family. Here Joseph, leaning on his staff, contemplates the seated Mary, who holds baby Jesus on her lap.

As the young John the Baptist communicates quietly with Jesus, Joseph and Mary are silent, both lost in private reveries, as their faces but do not look at one another, lending an aura of quiet reflection.


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2010.127