The Holy Family depicts the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms and her husband Joseph, as well as Elizabeth, a relative of Mary, and her son John the Baptist.
Mary, John and Jesus are in the center of the picture, while Joseph and Elizabeth are standing beside, and their clothes almost merge with the background.
The picture illustrates a classic biblical story, which was often depicted on both icons and secular paintings in the Renaissance. Nowadays, the Russian Orthodox Church does not consider such icons canonical, because Joseph puts his arm around the Virgin Mary on them, which is unacceptable in the Orthodox tradition.
Salvatore Tonci was born in Rome. He received a good education and served in the Neapolitan Guard for a long time. After he retired, he began to devote more time to music and poetry. Then, Tonci moved to St. Petersburg, where he became interested in painting. The artist learned to paint, copying Raphael, and in a very short time he turned from an amateur into a professional and, moreover, very popular metropolitan artist. But despite the flow of orders and even the fact that Alexander I himself was offering him a decent position at the Hermitage, Tonci moved to Moscow.
There he quickly became a favorite of the local nobility. His acquaintances considered him a witty, erudite and charismatic interlocutor. The memoirs of his contemporaries contain examples of the artist’s many talents: Tonci sang beautifully, accompanied himself on the guitar, and improvised.
Mary, John and Jesus are in the center of the picture, while Joseph and Elizabeth are standing beside, and their clothes almost merge with the background.
The picture illustrates a classic biblical story, which was often depicted on both icons and secular paintings in the Renaissance. Nowadays, the Russian Orthodox Church does not consider such icons canonical, because Joseph puts his arm around the Virgin Mary on them, which is unacceptable in the Orthodox tradition.
Salvatore Tonci was born in Rome. He received a good education and served in the Neapolitan Guard for a long time. After he retired, he began to devote more time to music and poetry. Then, Tonci moved to St. Petersburg, where he became interested in painting. The artist learned to paint, copying Raphael, and in a very short time he turned from an amateur into a professional and, moreover, very popular metropolitan artist. But despite the flow of orders and even the fact that Alexander I himself was offering him a decent position at the Hermitage, Tonci moved to Moscow.
There he quickly became a favorite of the local nobility. His acquaintances considered him a witty, erudite and charismatic interlocutor. The memoirs of his contemporaries contain examples of the artist’s many talents: Tonci sang beautifully, accompanied himself on the guitar, and improvised.
