Skip to main content
National Gallery of Art National Gallery of Art

Directions

  • Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  • Directions

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Shops
    • Tours, Guides, and Maps

    Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Ice Rink at the Sculpture Garden

    Step into a winter wonderland.

    Learn more

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured exhibition:

    The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

    Now on view

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Games and Interactives
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

    Today's puzzle

Utility

  • Shop
  • Support

Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

National Gallery of Art

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Shops
    • Tours, Guides, and Maps

    Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Ice Rink at the Sculpture Garden

    Step into a winter wonderland.

    Learn more

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured exhibition:

    The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

    Now on view

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Games and Interactives
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

    Today's puzzle

Utility

  • Shop
  • Support

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Shops
    • Tours, Guides, and Maps

    Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Ice Rink at the Sculpture Garden

    Step into a winter wonderland.

    Learn more

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured exhibition:

    The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

    Now on view

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Games and Interactives
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

    Today's puzzle

Utility

  • Shop
  • Support

Directions

  • Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  • Directions

Global Search

Autocomplete Suggestions
    No Results
    Keep typing to get suggestions
    Loading Results

    Top Searches:

    • Free images
    • Van Gogh
    • Landscape
    • National Gallery Nights
    • Matisse
    Advanced Artwork Search

    Breadcrumb

    1. Home
    2. Artworks
    3. Marquis de Lassay
    Provenance

    Marquis de Lassay

    French

    Explore Selected Works

    Artwork

    We look up at two women, two young boys, and a man, all with pale skin, sitting together on a wide landing, with stairs leading up to stone buildings behind the group and a patch of vivid blue sky in the upper right corner of this horizontal painting. At the center, a woman, Mary, sits holding a nearly nude child propped on one knee. Her body is angled to our right but she turns her head to look off into the distance to our left with large, dark eyes under faint brows. Her strawberry-blond hair is pulled back under a white veil that falls down the back of her neck and across her chest. Her smooth cheeks are lightly flushed in her round face. She has a straight nose and her pink, bow lips are closed. She wears a coral-red dress under a long, azure-blue robe that wraps around her waist and covers her legs. The sandaled toes of one foot peek from under the hems, and her other foot rests up on a gold-colored, rounded urn. Mary holds one child on her lap, and the second child sits by her right side, to our left. Both toddlers have blond, curly hair, dark eyes, rounded faces, and slightly pudgy bodies. Swaths of pale gray drapery mostly cover the genitals of both. The child on her lap half-sits, half-stands on the knee propped up on the urn. She supports his belly with one hand, the other wraps around his bottom. He leans forward, toward the second child, who faces him and holds up a yellow and blush-red fruit. Behind him, to our left, an older woman sits leaning forward and facing Mary in profile. Her wrinkled face is mostly lost in shadow, and she has a hooked nose and her forehead is lined, as if her eyebrows are raised. A white veil is wrapped around her head and drapes over the shoulders of her long, canary-yellow dress. One foot is crossed behind the other ankle, and the toes of both peep out from under her dress. To our right of Mary, a bearded man, Joseph, wears an eggplant-purple robe and sits almost entirely in shadow, facing our right in profile. The leg closer to us is extended and his foot stretches out of the shadow. He has short, curly brown hair and a long gray beard. He holds a carpenter’s compass to a panel in front of him. Closest to us, a step down runs along the bottom edge of the painting. On that step, a basket with leaves and yellow and peach-colored fruit sits in front of the standing child. Near Mary’s feet is a bronze-colored urn and a shiny gold box on raised feet. Behind the older woman to our left, water trickles from a round-bellied fountain on a pedestal in front of an orange tree. One building with round columns rises behind the tree. Behind Joseph, a long stick rests against the post of a short flight of four steps, which leads to another landing. The portico of a second temple-like building with squared columns and leafy capitals rises over Mary, presumably from the upper landing. A bright, topaz-blue sky with cream-white and steel-gray clouds fills the upper right corner of the composition.
    Anonymous Artist, The Holy Family on the Steps, 1648, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.49

    The Holy Family on the Steps

    The Holy Family on the Steps

    Anonymous Artist · 1648 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1952.5.49

    Site Footer

    Home National Gallery of Art

    Hours

    Admission is always free.
    Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

    Locations

    • West Building

      6th St and Constitution Ave NW
      Washington, DC 20565

    • East Building

      4th St and Constitution Ave NW
      Washington, DC 20565

    • Sculpture Garden

      7th St and Constitution Ave NW
      Washington, DC 20565

    Newsletter Sign Up Form

    Follow us

    Social Media

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Footer Primary Menu

    • About
      • About Us
      • Press
      • Contact Us
      • Newsletter
    • Visit
      • Plan Your Visit
      • Calendar
      • Today's Tours
      • Accessibility
      • Exhibitions
    • Get Involved
      • Donate
      • Membership
      • Opportunities
    • Research
      • Free Images for Download
      • Artwork Search
      • The Center
      • Conservation
      • Library
      • Archives
      • Past Exhibitions
      • Publications
    © 2025 National Gallery of Art

    Legal Links

    • Notices
    • Privacy Policy