The Holy Family with the infant St John the Baptist and a lamb 1621 - 1705

Giuseppe Diamantini made this drawing of The Holy Family with the infant St John the Baptist and a lamb, using reddish-brown chalk on paper. While seemingly simple, the medium is more interesting than you might think. Chalk is created from soft, porous sedimentary rocks like limestone or soapstone, ground into a powder and mixed with a binder. It allows for a rapid, expressive way of working, ideal for preliminary sketches or studies like this one. The relative ease and low cost of chalk made it a democratic material. Diamantini and other artists employed it to explore compositions and refine their ideas before committing to more laborious and expensive media like oil paint. We can see how the artist’s hand moved across the page, building up the forms with layers of hatching and cross-hatching. The texture of the chalk adds depth and volume to the figures, while the paper provides a slightly rough surface that catches the pigment. Ultimately, this drawing invites us to consider the relationship between materials, process, and artistic expression. It reminds us that even the simplest of materials can be used to create complex and beautiful works of art.