Holy Family with an Angel

The author, Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, was a relative-in-law of the more famous Francesco Mazzola, known as Parmigianino, since he had married the artist's cousin Caterina Elena, adopting her surname. The painting represents the Virgin Mary dressed in a green and pink vest while holding Christ as a child, and the background is occupied by a landscape with a tree and some bushes. The panel shows the mimetic ability of the artist; it is in fact a copy of the Holy Family with an angel painted by Parmigianino for Pope Clement VII. For his entire life Bedoli sought to equal the style of his relative.