{
"data": {
"id": 150389,
"accession_number": "1981.18",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "The Holy Family on the Steps, 1648. Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594\u20131665). Oil on canvas; framed: 103.5 x 135.3 x 13.3 cm (40 3/4 x 53 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.); unframed: 73.3 x 105.8 cm (28 7/8 x 41 5/8 in.); former: 72.3 x 104 cm (28 7/16 x 40 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1981.18",
"current_location": "212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture",
"title": "The Holy Family on the Steps",
"creation_date": "1648",
"creation_date_earliest": 1648,
"creation_date_latest": 1648,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 17th century"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "P - French 17th Century",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 103.5 x 135.3 x 13.3 cm (40 3/4 x 53 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.); Unframed: 73.3 x 105.8 cm (28 7/8 x 41 5/8 in.); Former: 72.3 x 104 cm (28 7/16 x 40 15/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 1.035,
"width": 1.353,
"depth": 0.133
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.733,
"width": 1.058
},
"former": {
"height": 0.723,
"width": 1.04
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 304599,
"title": "The Year in Review for 1981",
"description": "The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).",
"opening_date": "1982-02-17T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 191999,
"title": "A Painting in Focus: Nicolas Poussin's Holy Family on the Steps",
"description": "A Painting in Focus: Nicolas Poussin's Holy Family on the Steps. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 14, 1999-January 23, 2000).",
"opening_date": "1999-11-14T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 217169,
"title": "long-term loan",
"description": "long-term loan. Mus\u00e9e du Louvre (organizer) (February 1, 2000-January 31, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2000-02-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 217051,
"title": "Poussin and 17th century French Painting",
"description": "Poussin and 17th century French Painting. Harvard University Art Museums/Fogg Art Museum (February 11-April 14, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2002-02-11T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 222394,
"title": "Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Frick Collection, New York, NY (organizer) (November 8, 2006-January 28, 2007).",
"opening_date": "2006-11-08T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 179662,
"title": "Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007).",
"opening_date": "2007-03-29T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 217150,
"title": "Poussin and God",
"description": "Poussin and God. Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, Paris, France (organizer) (March 30-June 29, 2015).",
"opening_date": "2015-03-30T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "A Painting in Focus: Nicolas Poussin's Holy Family on the Steps. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November, 14, 1999-January 23, 2000).",
"opening_date": "2000-01-23T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": ".",
"opening_date": null
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Painted for Pierre Hennequin de Fresne (or version in Washington); [perhaps Reyni\u00e8re coll., Paris sale 1793; London sales 1797, 1801]; Lord Ashburton; J. Hervig-Smith, Devon (London sale 1908); (Quinto, Paris); Henri Lerolle (Paris sale 1944, as attributed); Bertin-Mourot coll.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Poussin placed small wax models in a box pierced with holes to study lighting effects.",
"description": "This deceptively simple composition represents a complex meditation on the Holy Family\u2019s role in the redemption of humanity. At the center, Mary presents the Christ child to the world. At the left, Saint Elizabeth leans forward to foretell his eventual death, while her son, Saint John the Baptist, offers Jesus an apple, signifying humanity\u2019s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. At the right, Saint Joseph holds a compass, a sign of his occupation as a carpenter and also symbolic of God the Father. Poussin developed his composition meticulously and deliberately, using clear primary colors, simple forms, and a geometric organization to express the central importance of the Holy Family in Christian belief.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60474739"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1981.18-the-holy-family-on-t"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cPoussin Painting Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art,\u201d April 30, 1981, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr2876"
},
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. \u201cThe Year in Review for 1981.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 2 (February 1982): 39\u201382.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 60-61; Mentioned: P. 78, no. 21",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159758"
},
{
"citation": "Goldfarb, Hilliard T. \u201cA Pastoral Scene with Classical Figures by Claude Lorrain.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 4 (April 1983): 164\u201371.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159813"
},
{
"citation": "Blunt, Anthony. Nicolas Poussin. London: Pallas Athene, 1995.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 659",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Cornette, Joe\u0308l, and Alain Me\u0301rot. Le XVIIe sie\u0300cle. Paris, France: Seuil, 1999.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 337",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Perry, Gillian, and Colin Cunningham. Academies, Museums, and Canons of Art. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press in association with the Open University, 1999.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 38, pl. 16",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Minor, Vernon Hyde. Baroque & Rococo: Art & Culture. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1999.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 187, no. 5.24",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "De Grazia, Diane. \u201cPoussin\u2019s \u2018Holy Family on the Steps\u2019 in Context.\u201d Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 4 (1999): 26\u201363.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 26-63",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/20070825"
},
{
"citation": "Sawyer, Carol, and Marcia Steele. \u201cPoussin\u2019s \u2018Holy Family on the Steps\u2019: New Technical Discoveries, Comparisons, and the Washington Copy.\u201d Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 4 (1999): 112\u2013160.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 112-160",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/20070829"
},
{
"citation": "De Grazia, Dianne, \"Poussin\u2019s Holy Family\", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 10, December 1999",
"page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 4",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1999-10/page/n3"
},
{
"citation": "Bonfait, Olivier, and Neil MacGregor. Il Dio nascosto: i grandi maestri del Seicento e l'immagine di Dio. Roma, Italy: Edizioni de Luca, 2000.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 16, fig. 1",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Armstrong, John. The Intimate Philosophy of Art. London, United Kingdom: Allen Lane, 2000.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 108-109, no. 23",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Kendall, Richard. Drawn to Painting: Leon Kossoff Drawings and Prints After Nicolas Poussin. London, United Kingdom: Merrell Publishers, 2000.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 117, pl. 58",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 40, no. 37; Mentioned: p. 117",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Wilson, Carolyn C. St. Joseph in Italian Renaissance Society and Art: New Directions and Interpretations. Philadelphia, PA: Saint Joseph's University Press, 2001.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 145, pl. 50, XI",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Rosenberg, Pierre, and Jean-Pierre Caillet. La peinture franc\u0327aise. Paris, France: Menge\u0300s, 2001.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 274",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Bishop, Philip E. Adventures in the Human Spirit. Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Prentice Hall, 2002.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 282, fig. 10.28",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Brugerolles, Emmanuelle and David Guillet. Poussin, Claude, and Their World: Seventeenth-Century French Drawings from the E\u0301cole Des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Paris, France: E\u0301cole nationale supe\u0301rieure des beaux-arts, 2002.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: fig. 4",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Marshall, David Ryley. The Italians in Australia: Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art. Firenze, Italy: Centro Di, 2004.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 22, fig. 10",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Hyman, John. Realism and Relativism in the Theory of Art. Oxford, United Kingdom: Aristotelian Society, 2005.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: fir. 4",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. London, United Kingdom: Laurence King, 2005.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 586, fig. 13.26",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Shepherd, Rupert, and Robert Maniura. Presence: The Inherence of the Prototype Within Images and Other Objects. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2006.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 131, fig. 7.1",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Iacono, Margaret. Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York, NY: The Frick Collection, 2006.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 60-63; Reproduced: no. 12",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Eitel-Porter, Rhoda. From Leonardo to Pollock: Master Drawings from the Morgan Library. New York, NY: Pierpont Morgan Library, 2006.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 150, fig. 1",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Hyman, John. The Objective Eye: Color, Form, and Reality in the Theory of Art. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 193, fig. 69",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Wright, Christopher. Poussin: Paintings : a Catalogue Raisonne\u0301. London, United Kingdom: Chaucer Press, 2007.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 192, no. 140",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Conisbee, Philip, Richard Rand, and Joseph Baillio. French Paintings of the Fifteenth Through the Eighteenth Century. Washington DC: National Gallery of Art, 2009.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 390, fig. 1",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Hershkovitch, Corinne, and Didier Rykner. La restitution des \u0153uvres d'art: solutions et impasses. Paris, France: Hazan, 2011.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 136; Reproduced: p. 218, fig. 13",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. London, United Kingdom; Scala Books, 2012.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 200-2001",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Blanc, Marianne Cojannot-Le. A\u0300 la recherche du rameau d'or. [Place of publication not identified]: Presses universitaires de Paris Ouest, 2012.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 125, fig. 31",
"url": "."
},
{
"citation": "Brugerolles, Emmanuelle. De Poussin a\u0300 Fragonard: hommage a\u0300 Mathias Polakovits. Paris, France: Beaux-arts de Paris, 2013.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 57, fig. 3",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 187",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, et. al. Le Saint Joseph charpentier de Georges de la Tour: Un Don au Louvre de Percy Moore Turner. [Gent] : Snoeck, 2017.",
"page_number": "Mentioned;. p. 179 & 477, n. 2053",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Bandle, Anne Laure, and Fre\u0301de\u0301ric Elsig. Risques et pe\u0301rils dans l'attribution des \u0153uvres d'art: de la pratique des experts aux aspects juridiques. Gene\u0300ve : Schulthess, 2018.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 2-3; Reproduced: p. 5, fig. 2",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gauzi, Christine. \"Poussin au Louvre: L'Etat de Grace.\" L'Estampille/L'Objet d'art 512 (Mai 2015): 36-45.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 36",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Brilliant, Virginia. Italian, Spanish, and French Paintings in the Ringling Museum of Art. New York; Sarasota, FL: Scala Arts Publishers, Inc., in association with The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art,, 2017.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 449",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Bishop, Brian Leslie and David Hoyle. The Continuing Dialogue: An Investigation into the Artistic Afterlife of the Five Narratives Peculiar to the Fourth Gospel and an Assessment of their Contribution to the Hermeneutics of that Gospel. Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2017.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 104, fig. 27",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sapir, Itay. \"Flowing Wine, solid Stone: Dionysian and Apollonian Metaphors in Writing on Seventeenth-Century Art.\" In Einfluss, Str\u00f6mung, Quelle: Aquatische Metaphern der Kunstgeschichte.Bielefeld: Transcript, 2018.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 201, fig. 1",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Pierini, Marco, and Perugino. Perugino: l'Adorazione dei Magi. 2018.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned; p. 44, Fig. 4",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Burchard, Wolf. The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV. London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2016. p. 230",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 230, fig. 190",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Gady, B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte, and Nicolas Milovanovic. Charles Le Brun (1619-1690). Lens: Mus\u00e9e du Louvre-Lens; Paris: LIENART, 2016.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 186, fig. 1",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Milovanovic, Nicolas and Micka\u00ebl Szanto. Poussin et Dieu: l'album de l'exposition. Paris: Hazan: Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, 2015.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 14-15",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Buser, Thomas. Experiencing Art Around Us. Australia ; United States : Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned: p, 103, figure 4-26",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Hall, Marcia B. The Power of Color: Five Centuries of European Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 132, fig. 3.26",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Wilson, Carolyn C.\"Nunc faber alter adest: Cristoforo Bianchi's Emblematic Engraving from 1597 and the Saint Joseph Altarpiece of 1603 by Giovanni Barbiani of Ravenna.\" Artibus et historiae 80, (2019): 241-268.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 252-53, fig.13a-b; Mentioned: p. 253-54",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Verdi, Richard, and Nicolas Poussin. Poussin As a Painter: From Classicism to Abstraction. London : Reaktion Books, 2020.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 120-123, no. 103",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Thomas, Troy M. Poussin's Women: Sex and Gender in the Artist's Works. Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2020.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 327-328, fig. 7.14",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Albl, Stefan, and Pietro Testa. Pietro Testa: Maler in Rom und Lucca (1612-1650). 2021.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 117, note 180",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Caglioti, Francesco, and Donatello. Donatello: The Renaissance. Venezia : Marsilio arte, 2022.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 401, fig. 6",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lerolle, Aggy. Henry Lerolle: Paris 1848-1929. Willaupuis, Belgium: Wapica; Paris: Socie\u0301te\u0301 des Amis d'Henry Lerolle, 2022.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 222-223",
"url": ""
}
],
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"creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
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"gallery_donor_text": "Reinberger Gallery",
"athena_id": 150389,
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{
"id": 1946,
"description": "Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594\u20131665)",
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
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"sortable_date": 1648,
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"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:02:55.424000"
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}