HOLY FAMILY

An iconographic composition showing the large family of Jesus Christ. The number of saints may vary from eight (as in Dürer's composition) to twenty-six. The most canonic image counts seventeen saints.

All the compositions are based on the traditional image of the Holy Family surrounded by its relatives. On the Dürer's print the Holy Virgin with Child is in the centre, while Joseph is in the foreground to the left. Near the Virgin we can see her mother Anne, to the right of Anne there is her last husband Joachim, and, behind them, two other husbands of Anne and two her daughters. In the foreground there are angels playing music.