Holy Family Under An Oak Tree On A Gold Background

French school circa 1870
Holy Family under an oak, after Raphaël, on gold background
Oil on canvas
H. 92 cm; W. 60 cm

This aesthetic curiosity takes up the very famous composition by Raphael offered to Philip IV of Spain in 1640, kept at the Escorial Palace, and now at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Made around 1520, this large format by the Italian master is a Renaissance masterpiece and has been copied many times by entire generations of apprentice painters. Here, we find the composition in an oval, placed in a monument of neoclassical facade with many ornate elements dating easily from the end of the 19th century. The peculiarity of this canvas is that all the surroundings are gilded with leaf and sometimes with golden paint, which gives it this peculiarity of a shiny background. These shine are obviously uneven due to the two types of gilding and their colors giving the patinated appearance to the old monument.