{"id":352271,"date":"2025-10-03T09:01:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T09:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/veritas.art\/lot\/the-meeting-of-the-holy-families-2127506429\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T19:23:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:23:27","slug":"the-meeting-of-the-holy-families-2127506429","status":"publish","type":"lot","link":"https:\/\/veritas.art\/en\/lot\/the-meeting-of-the-holy-families-2127506429\/","title":{"rendered":"[Auction 153] Lot 651 – The Meeting of the Holy Families"},"content":{"rendered":"Oil on canvas\r\r\nThe Virgin Mary appears seated at the centre, holding the Christ Child on her lap and supporting Saint John the Baptist with her left hand, who in turn extends his arms towards the Child, holding the crucifix that He extends to him. To the left, Saint Elizabeth kneels in adoration, kissing the Child’s right hand. Behind her, beside a table with a basket of fruit, are Saint Joseph and a female figure. To the right of the composition appears Saint Zacharias, depicted kneeling in an attitude of prayer and contemplation.","protected":false},"featured_media":354879,"template":"","categories":[65,52],"class_list":["post-352271","lot","type-lot","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-paintings","category-pintura","author-domingos-sequeira"],"acf":{"auction_number":"153","number":"651","ref":"651","letter":"0","hammer_value":"60000","show_hammer_value":true,"estimation_min":"50000","estimation_max":"80000","price_on_request":false,"author":2154,"auction":{"ID":350526,"post_author":"44","post_date":"2025-07-02 09:02:53","post_date_gmt":"2025-07-02 09:02:53","post_content":"","post_title":"Auction 153 - Antiques & Works of Art, Silver & Jewellery","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"auction-153-antiques-works-of-art-silver-jewellery","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-10-17 17:00:13","post_modified_gmt":"2025-10-17 17:00:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/veritas.art\/?post_type=auction&p=350526","menu_order":0,"post_type":"auction","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"name":"The Meeting of the Holy Families (or Holy Family with the Family of Saint John the Baptist)","dimensions":"108,5x137,5 cm","description":"Oil on canvas
\r\nThe Virgin Mary appears seated at the centre, holding the Christ Child on her lap and supporting Saint John the Baptist with her left hand, who in turn extends his arms towards the Child, holding the crucifix that He extends to him. To the left, Saint Elizabeth kneels in adoration, kissing the Child's right hand. Behind her, beside a table with a basket of fruit, are Saint Joseph and a female figure. To the right of the composition appears Saint Zacharias, depicted kneeling in an attitude of prayer and contemplation.","additional_info":[{"title":"Additional Information","text":"Provenance:
\r\nCollection of Dr. Arnaldo Constantino Fernandes
\r\nWith label on the reverse from the auction house Soares & Mendon\u00e7a, dating from before 1954
\r\n
\r\n"},{"title":"","text":"This remarkable religious painting represents an important discovery in the corpus of Domingos Ant\u00f3nio de Sequeira (1768-1837) - the most celebrated Portuguese painter of his time. Originally attributed to Francisco Vieira Lusitano, this work was recently recognised as a creation of the Portuguese master following the identification of a preparatory study by Dr Alexandra Reis Gomes Markl. A label on the reverse suggests that the work circulated in the Portuguese art market between 1937 and the early 1950s, possibly already bearing the identification plaque that erroneously related it to Vieira Lusitano.
\r\nThe composition masterfully develops the theme of the Meeting of the Holy Families, an iconography of remarkable popularity in Portugal during the 18th century, which allowed artists to explore both the sacred dimension and family intimacy. Sequeira reveals here all his technical mastery, demonstrating the exemplary correctness of drawing, sophisticated command of light and harmonious chromatic compositions that characterise his finest creations.
\r\nThe narrative unfolds in two complementary episodes: the central meeting where Zacharias and Saint Elizabeth, reverently kneeling, frame the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and Saint John, in a composition of remarkable balance; and a second plane where Saint Joseph receives apples from a female figure - an episode possibly of allegorical character, which may symbolise the union and closeness between the holy families.
\r\nParticularly revealing is the aforementioned preparatory study, currently in the collection of the MNAA and published in the reference volume \"Domingos Ant\u00f3nio Sequeira, desenhos\" by Maria Alice Mourisca Beaumont (ill. 491, p. 227). In this drawing the artist explores the complex intertwining of hands between Saint Elizabeth, the Virgin and the Child, as well as the delineation of the body and face of Saint Joseph as he would represent him in the final composition. The relationship of this study to the final composition not only unequivocally demonstrates the meditated creative process and care in elaborating the pictorial structure that Sequeira applied to his works, but also provides solid academic foundation to the present attribution.
\r\nTemporally this work appears to be situated in Sequeira's formative period, possibly during his transformative stay in Italy or in the first years after his return to Lisbon, illustrating a fascinating moment of the painter's stylistic transition. Here one can observe the synthesis between the classical teachings absorbed in Rome and the Portuguese sensibility that would define his unique style, reflecting the gradual emergence of the neoclassical languages that would characterise the renewal of Portuguese painting at the beginning of the 19th century.
\r\nThe reattribution of this unpublished work to Domingos Ant\u00f3nio de Sequeira significantly enriches our knowledge of his religious production and offers a rare opportunity to acquire a work by one of the most important painters of the Portuguese school, at a crucial moment in his artistic evolution."}],"tags":"Paintings","auction_session":"3","gallery":[{"image":{"ID":354879,"id":354879,"title":"153_651","filename":"651-scaled.jpg","filesize":886596,"url":"https:\/\/veritas.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/651-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/veritas.art\/en\/lot\/encontro-das-santas-familias-1478586335\/153_651\/","alt":"","author":"44","description":"","caption":"","name":"153_651","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":352270,"date":"2025-10-03 17:32:31","modified":"2025-10-03 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