Holy Family + Three Jesuit Saints

For the two side altars at Fordham University Church, Hildreth Meière painted Saints Aloysius, John Berchmans, and Stanislaus Kostka and the Holy Family. Today the paintings hang in the main sanctuary of the church, although they are no longer placed above altars. Meière painted her full-scale color cartoon for the Holy Family in gouache on brown paper using gold paint to indicate the background. She applied strips of gold foil to distinguish the halos of Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child. 

Fordham University recently restored Meière’s cartoon for the Holy Family. It is on view in the William D. Walsh Family Library, together with her full-scale color studies for the right and left side panels of the main altarpiece, Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces and Saints.