"Mary washed, Joseph laid... "
The subject of this painting really seems to illustrate the famous lullaby your grandparents or parents used to sing to you when you were a child.
You know, no one can escape household affairs, not even Joseph, Mary and Jesus!
The scene depicted by the Bolognese painter Lucio Massari (1568-1633) is in fact very unusual: every member of the Sacraiglia works with commitment and organization to clean and iron the laundry.
Lucio Massari Holy Family (Madonna of the Laundry), 1620 | Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze
Mary washes her clothes in a well of water, Jesus squeezes them in a tin and Joseph lays them on the branches of a tree.
While Mother and Son are busy at their work, Joseph is the only one who looks towards the spectator, almost inviting him to take part in the work.
The Holy Family serenely performs the same household tasks as ordinary people, creating a supportive proximity.
Lucio Massari also shows harmony and family peace that reverberates even in the surrounding nature.
The subject of the painting hints back to a curious episode narrated in the Apocrypha Gospels, a stop during the Escape to Egypt that sees the Holy Family struggling with traditional domestic occupations. | Source: © Galleria degli Uffizi
Lucio Massari (22 January 1569 - 3 November 1633) was an Italian painter of the School of Bologna.
He can be described as painting during both Mannerist and early-Baroque periods.
Life and work
He was born in Bologna, where he initially apprenticed with an unknown painter by the name of Spinelli, then the Mannerist painter Bartolomeo Passarotti, but also worked with Bartolomeo Cesi.
In 1592, he joined the Carracci studio or the Academy of the Incamminati, and remained attached to Ludovico Carracci for many years.
In 1604, he worked with Ludovico to fresco Stories of San Mauro, San Benedetto and others in the cloister of San Michele in Bosco.
In 1607, he collaborated with Lionello Spada and Francesco Brizio in frescoes for the Palazzo Bonfioli, in Bologna.
In 1610, he visited Rome, remaining under the patronage of Cardinal Facchinetti, and befriended Domenichino.
In 1612, he completed the frescoes left unfinished by Bernardino Poccetti in a chapel of the Certosa di Galluzzo, near Florence.
He painted the main altarpiece for the church of Santa Maria in Guadi in San Giovanni in Persiceto.
He returned to Bologna in 1614, and soon traveled with Francesco Albani to work in Mantua.
He is said to have spent so much time in hunting, fishing, and the delights of the countryside, that he neglected painting, though his biography shows him to be exceedingly prolific in altarpieces.
Among his pupils were Sebastiano Brunetti, Antonio Randa and Fra Bonaventura Bisi.
His son Bartolomeo Massari became a noted anatomist. | Source: © Wikipedia
"Maria lavava, Giuseppe stendeva…"
Quanti si ricordano questa filastrocca?
Il soggetto del dipinto Lucio Massari "Sacra Famiglia (Madonna del bucato)", 1620 ca., sembra proprio illustrare la famosa ninna nanna che vi cantavano i nonni od i genitori, quando eravate bambini.
Si sa, nessuno può sottrarsi alle faccende domestiche, nemmeno Giuseppe, Maria e Gesù!
La scena raffigurata dal pittore Bolognese Lucio Massari (1568-1633) è infatti molto insolita: ogni membro della Sacra Famiglia lavora con impegno e organizzazione alla pulizia e alla stesura del bucato.
Maria lava i panni in una pozza d’acqua, Gesù li strizza in una tinozza e Giuseppe li stende ai rami di un albero.
Mentre Madre e Figlio sono intenti al loro lavoro, Giuseppe è l’unico che guarda verso lo spettatore, quasi invitandolo a prendere parte all’opera.
La Sacra Famiglia svolge con serenità le stesse mansioni domestiche della gente comune, creando quindi una confortante vicinanza.
Inoltre Lucio Massari mostra un’armonia ed una pace familiare che si riverbera anche nella natura circostante.
Il soggetto del dipinto "Sacra Famiglia (Madonna del bucato)" rimanda ad un curioso episodio narrato nei Vangeli Apocrifi, una sosta durante la Fuga in Egitto che vede proprio la Sacra Famiglia alle prese con le tradizionali occupazioni domestiche. | Fonte: © Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze
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