Holy Family with St Anne and Joachim

Photo © Martin Crampin larger image

probably 1520s The Christ-child is seated centrally in a panel with Mary seated, reading, on the left, with Joseph behind. Anne is seated on the right, with Joachim behind her, holding an open book in one hand and an apple in the other, which the infant Christ reaches out to grasp. The dove of the Holy Spirit is shown above, between the two male figures. A figure above hold a scroll. technique: stained glass Church of St Gwenllwyfo, Dulas, Anglesey south wall of the nave An identical design of the same grouping also survives at Earsham, Norfolk, which Hilary Wayment attributed to the master of the Mass of St Gregory. He suggested that this was a workshop copy that was made to be set between panels of the donors, perhaps Allert Andries (1479-1551) and Catherine Boelen, who are depicted in panels with their name saints in collections at Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, and the V&A, London. All three of the panels have the mark of the Boelen family, and the panel of the Holy Family also has the arms of Amsterdam in both top corners. However, the painting on this panel is not of the same quality as that on the Catherine Boelen panel at the V&A. The arrangement of the group is found in other examples of the period. In reaching out to grasp the apple, symbolic of Adam's sin, Christ takes the sin of the world upon himself.  (ObjectID=3833 ImageID=6753) Original File Name=Llanwenllwyfo_MG_7442.jpg

This artwork is indexed under the following main subject(s):
for other works containing these subjects please click on the links.

• Holy Family with Anna and Joachim 
• Holy Ghost represented as a dove 

J. O. Hughes, A Short Guide to the Early 16th Century Glass of Llanwenllwyfo Church Isle of Anglesey (1995), pp. 12-13.

Hilary Wayment, 'The Master of the Mass of Saint Gregory Roundel' Oud Holland, vol. 112, no. 2/3 (1989), 85-7.

J. O. Hughes, Catherine Hughes and Avril Lloyd, Trysorau Cudd: Gwydr Lliw yn Santes Gwenllwyfo, Dulas, Môn/Hidden Gems: Stained Glass at the Church of St Gwenllwyfo, Anglesey (Aberystwyth: Sulien, 2016), pp. 23-4, 58-9.

Photo © Martin Crampin