Holy_Family_with_Saint_Catherine_and_Saint_John_the_Baptist
Holy Family with Saint Catherine and Saint John the Baptist
Painting by Paolo Veronese
Holy Family with Saint Catherine and Saint John the Baptist is an oil-on-canvas painting by Paolo Veronese, now in the Uffizi in Florence.[1] Its dating is debated, varying between his early period and his late one, the latter influenced by Tintoretto, with the latter the majority view, placing it in c.1562–1565. Some early copies survive, one on parchment by Carlo Loth (Uffizi inv. 1890–813), one by Gian Antonio Guardi (Seattle Art Museum) and a third of almost exactly the same dimensions as the original (Baltimore Museum of Art),[2] possibly autograph.
No records survive of who commissioned the painting, though Martinelli theorises that it may have been the Barbaro family, whose patron saint was Catherine of Alexandria and which had previously commissioned other works from the artist. It was recorded as being in Venice in 1648 in the residence of the Windmann family from Carinthia near the church of San Canciano. In 1654 Paolo del Sera, cardinal Carlo de' Medici's agent in Venice, sold it to the cardinal. On the cardinal's death and at Del Sera's own suggestion, his relation cardinal Leopoldo acquired it from himself. It finally passed from him to its present home in 1798.[2]