Italian school; 18th century. "Madonna and Child with Saint John Child". Oil on copper. It presents faults on the pictorial surface. It has frame c.1830. Measurements: 25 x 22 cm. Devotional scene that presents the Virgin with the Child, accompanied by San Juanito. The work painted on copper was probably linked to private devotion due to the support, the reduced dimensions and the kindness of the subject. In the scene the three figures are arranged in the form of a frieze, although it is true that, despite the dark background, the artist slightly foregrounds the figure of the Child in the centre, then that of Mary and finally that of Saint John in the background, which is imbued with a certain gloom, as it does not have a nimbus of sanctity, unlike Mary and Jesus. One of the remarkable features of the image is that the author shows us a spontaneous Mary who glances slightly at her son, as she is actually reading. This is a feature that indicates the education of the Virgin, which proliferated as an independent theme and which also empathises with the viewer as she is shown as an everyday mother far removed from the magnificence of her role as queen of heaven. In the most common sense of the expression, the Holy Family includes the closest relatives of the Child Jesus, i.e. mother and grandmother or mother and nurturing father. In both cases, whether it is Saint Anne or Saint Joseph who appears, it is a group of three figures. From an artistic point of view, the arrangement of this terrestrial Trinity poses the same problems and suggests the same solutions as the heavenly Trinity. However, the difficulties are fewer. It is no longer a question of a single God in three persons, whose essential unity must be expressed at the same time as his diversity. The three persons are united by a blood bond, certainly, but they do not constitute an indivisible block.