A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools / Including by Special Permission Notes Collected from the Works of John Ruskin

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1450. THE HOLY FAMILY.

Sebastiano del Piombo (Venetian: 1485-1547). See 1.

"In the mixture of the Venetian element," it has been said, "with the severe forms and masses of the Michelangelesque feeling consists the charm of Sebastiano's best works" (Layard, ii. 562). The "superb composition" before us, says Sir Edward Poynter, "shows the influence of Michelangelo in every line." It was formerly in the collection of the late Mr. Thomas Baring, and was purchased from the Earl of Northbrook in 1895. It was Mr. Baring's favourite picture in his collection.