Holy Family with the Family of St John the Baptist is an oil-on-canvas painting createdc. 1536 by the Italian artistLorenzo Lotto, and now in theLouvre inParis. It was probably produced as a private commission, possibly for a Venetian. However, for unknown reasons it remained with the artist, who tried to sell it on before leaving for theMarche in 1549, as recorded in a note in his commonplace books. He sought to use his friendJacopo Sansovino as his go-between for the work, but Sansovino ended up unable to sell this or any other works by Lotto and returned them all to the painter.
Lotto tried to sell them off again in 1550, by which time he was inAncona, this time at a public auction in the Loggia dei Mercanti. This too proved unsuccessful, withHoly Family and most of the other works again remaining unsold. The artist probably took the work toLoreto, where he made a copy of it for the Palazzo Apostolico. The original work passed out of his hands later, possibly via the religious community ofOblates of the Holy House, of which he had become a member. It reappeared in 1662 in an inventory of the French royal collections, having been acquired by an art dealer with a misattribution toDosso Dossi.[1]
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