past and his love for the country he lived in. This painting is clearly an act of homage by Poussin to the painters of the High Renaissance. The Holy Family on the Steps has a pyramid like affect with the central figures. This is believed to have come from Poussin's study of The Canigiani Holy Family, Raphael; Holy Family with Saints, Palma Vecchio; Doni Tondo, Michelangelo; and Madonna and Child with St. Anne, Leonardo (Hibbard, 51). From studying these painting you see that Poussin choose a broader based triangle for his group and a lower point of view. The closest association to Poussins triangular composition seems to be found in the works of Palma and Titian, although they are far looser in their groupings than those of Poussin. Poussin is the most geometric (Hibbard, 51). The tilt in the Madonnas head and her relationship to the upper body of the Christ Child is similar to the so-called Madonna of the Fish, by Raphael. Poussin would have surely have seen this in the Neapolitan church of San Domenico before its removal around 1638 (Hibbard, 53). On the left side of the triangle there is an elderly female figure that is evidently St. Elizabeth since the nude boy on her lap is her son St. John the Baptist. The young saint is offering an apple to the young Christ, which he has picked from the wicker basket at his feet. The seated Joseph, on the right side of the triangle, is related to the Joseph in Andrea del Sartos Madonna del Sacco (Hibbard, 57). In this painting though Joseph has a stretched out leg that had to have come from a different source. Michelangelos Ancestors of Christ in the Sistine lunettes shows Naason in the same position with the out stretched leg. The role of Joseph was to keep with the Virgin Mary and the young Christ. When present at all in paintings Joseph appeared gently ridiculous. In Orazio Gentileschi The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, where an exhausted old man has fallen sound asle...
