The Family of Saint Anne
Artist / maker
Maerten de Vos (painters (artists))Date
1585Period
16th centuryCollection
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
Maerten de Vos is regarded as a forerunner of the great baroque school of painting in Antwerp. He painted portraits as well as monumental religious scenes. The Family of St Anne is signed and dated 1585 in the centre of the painting. The legend of St Anne developed in the 13th century. It tells us that Anne was married three…
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Maerten de Vos is regarded as a forerunner of the great baroque school of painting in Antwerp. He painted portraits as well as monumental religious scenes. The Family of St Anne is signed and dated 1585 in the centre of the painting. The legend of St Anne developed in the 13th century. It tells us that Anne was married three times and each time gave birth to a baby girl. She was already an old woman when she bore Mary, the mother of Jesus. In the painting Mary is seated in the centre with the Infant Jesus on her lap. Seated next to her is her cousin Elizabeth, rather than her mother, St Anne, which is far more usual. Standing in front of Elizabeth is her son, St John the Baptist. We recognise the elderly couple to the right of the arch as Anne and her third husband Joachim, with their child Mary. Seated in the left and right foreground are Marys half-sisters. Behind them we see, from left to right, Zebedee, Zacharias and Joseph, the husbands of one of Marys half-sisters, of her niece Elizabeth and of Mary. In a view through the building we glimpse a scene in which Mary and Elizabeth meet.
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