This is one of the most often repeated themes in the whole of Venetian sixteenth-century painting. The Holy Family in a landscape has no specific Biblical source although some interpretations of the subject can be seen either as representing the Rest on the Flight into Egypt or, more rarely, the Return from Egypt. In this instance, the slightly older child on the right is probably the infant St. John the Baptist. The main figure on the left is a shepherd probably introduced for purely compositional reasons, as are the travellers in the left background landscape. Unusually for the artist, the painting is on panel, which imparts a less textured effect than is usual. A rather similar Holy Family, also on panel is in the National Gallery in London and generally dated c1530. It was long attributed to Palma Vecchio (q.v.) whose work it resembles in style. Numerous influences are visible in the painting here, not least that of Palma Vecchio himself but the composition is indebted to the early work of Titian whose own Holy Family with a shepherd, also in the National Gallery, London, is generally dated c1510.  Bonifazio has virtually reversed Titian’s composition and added the infant St. John the Baptist.

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