The Holy Family

Additional texteExhibition text: The genre-like scene takes place in the heart of winter, the season in which Jesus was born. With motherly pride, Mary presents the realistically portrayed Christ Child, who seeks our attention as if beckoning us to approach and join in prayer. The knife in his hand alludes to the Circumcision, the first occasion when the Redeemer’s blood was shed. Jordaens concretises the divine radiance said to have emanated from Jesus’ body – “the light of the world” – as an intense reflected light from a candle. Exhibition text: The infant Christ is standing in the lap of the Virgin Mary as he looks at us. The scene is both ordinary and dramatic. Jordaens had learned to paint contrasts between light and darkness from the Italian artist Caravaggio, but he was also inspired by Saint Bridget, who had described how the baby Jesus in her visions radiated an inner, supernatural light. The knife in the infant’s hand symbolises circumcision, the first occasion on which Christ shed his blood.