The Holy Family with Saint Mary Magdalen
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
The Holy Family with Saint Mary Magdalen, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, is a devotional panel by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) grouping the Virgin, the Christ child, Joseph and Mary Magdalen in close, intimate proximity. Small-scale groupings of this kind belonged to a category of half-length devotional painting that flourished in the second half of the fifteenth century, made for private prayer rather than public display in a church. Mantegna, trained in Padua under Francesco Squarcione and shaped by Donatello's sculptural example, brought to such subjects the same hard-edged, carefully modelled treatment of the human figure that marks his larger altarpieces and frescoes[1]. By 1460 he had become court painter to the Gonzaga family in Mantua, and his work increasingly served patrons who wanted images for close, personal viewing rather than only grand public commissions[1].
Where it is held
Held at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, United States.
The painting is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
A private devotional format
Half-length groupings of the Holy Family with an additional saint, painted at a scale suited to a private room rather than a church wall, became increasingly common in Italian painting through the second half of the fifteenth century. They let a patron keep a small, close image for daily prayer, distinct from the large public altarpieces the same painters produced for churches and confraternities. Mantegna, whose reputation by mid-century rested on sophisticated perspective and unusual, closely observed viewpoints, applied that same precision to these more intimate subjects[1].
Mantegna's formation
Mantegna entered Squarcione's Padua workshop as a child and was admitted to the painters' guild within a year, leaving to work independently by seventeen[1]. Donatello's presence in Padua from 1443, carving the high altar of Sant'Antonio, gave Mantegna a working example of anatomically correct, sculpturally weighted figures, a quality that carried through his career regardless of scale or subject[1]. In 1453 he married Nicolosia Bellini, linking him by marriage to Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, and the three painters influenced one another's handling of perspective and colour in these years[1].
Common questions
Who painted The Holy Family with Saint Mary Magdalen?
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), the Paduan-trained painter who became court painter to the Gonzaga family of Mantua in 1460.
Where is the painting held?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Why would Mantegna paint a small, close grouping like this rather than a large altarpiece?
Half-length devotional paintings of the Holy Family, often with an added saint, were made for private prayer in a patron's home rather than public display in a church, a format that grew common through the second half of the fifteenth century.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following references, verified against the museum and public-domain image record for this work.
- [1] book Susie Hodge, Art: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Artists and Their Work Used for: this artwork.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-09-03. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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