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3. Orazio Borgianni, The Holy Family with St. John the Baptist<br />
and a Dove, circa 1609, Galleria Nazionale d’ Arte Antica, Rome.<br />
by Rubens, now in the Metropolitan Museum (fig.2),<br />
showing the Christ Child snatching the dove away<br />
from St. John the Baptist and a more serene example<br />
by Orazio Borgianni in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte<br />
Antica in Rome (fig.3) in which the Baptist presents<br />
the dove to the Christ Child. Both the Borgianni and<br />
the Rubens are thought to date from around 1610.<br />
Walter Liedtke in discussing the motif suggested that<br />
these two paintings might share a literary source 7 .<br />
This might be true of the present work also, but it is<br />
tempting to speculate in addition that the paintings<br />
are actually responses to a lost work by Baglione,<br />
now identified by this delightful, beautifully realised<br />
and highly characteristic drawing.<br />
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