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A woman in a blue mantle holds a baby before an old man with a staff and a kneeling young shepherd, beside a rock

The Holy Family with a Shepherd

Titian, c. 1510

What you see

The Virgin, kneeling on the left, holds the Child on a white cloth. At the center, Saint Joseph, bald and bearded, sits with a staff and looks at the shepherd arriving from the right. The young man, in a red vest and white shirt, kneels with his crook. On the left, a dark rock forms a sort of cave; on the right, a landscape with trees opens up.

The colors are strong and clean: blue and red for the Virgin, purple and orange for Joseph, red and white for the shepherd. Light falls fully on the faces. Spot the animal heads emerging from the shadow of the rock, and the tiny angel flying among the trees at upper right.

About Titian

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) was the great painter of Venice and worked for more than seventy years. He was a magician of colour: his reds, golds and blues seem to glow with their own light. Kings, popes and emperors all wanted him to paint their portraits.

All 12 works by Titian

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