In the exquisite canvas of the Holy Family from the Bishop's Palace of Molfetta, there are evident aspects that eloquently refer back to its author: Antonio de Bellis (Rodio, ca. 1610 - Naples 1656). 

An innovative painter working in Naples around the mid-seventeenth century, according to the information provided by Bernardo de Dominici (biographer of Neapolitan artists), he carried out his apprenticeship under Massimo Stanzione, mainly working in Naples and signing his most famous public work, the cycle of canvases for S. Carlo alle Mortelle, by 1640. His distinctive features are enclosed in the asymmetric layout of the subject, in the tension of the figure of Mary, in the treatment of the garments, in the articulation of the hands with pointed fingers, and in the same physiognomic characteristics of the characters that characterize his other canvases. The Holy Family of Molfetta could be placed in the early forties, the same years in which Bernardo Cavallino, younger than Antonio and perhaps indebted to him for some solutions, made the same stylistic choices.

The subject of the painting in the Diocesan Museum is among the most common in Western iconography, a Nativity that coincides in our case with the representation of the Holy Family. The difference between the two themes is minimal; a half-figure image of the Nativity visualizes the narrative factors of Lk 2, 6-19, the birth of Baby Jesus; while a Holy Family illustrates the silent dialogue between the Virgin, the Child, and Joseph in the early phase of Jesus' infancy. Sometimes, artists introduce significant gestures in the representation of the Bethlehem family in relation to some theological or spiritual aspect to be emphasized, thus making the incarnation of Christ more accessible to the faithful, with the feelings of a trusting and homely piety.

Joseph shows the Child to his wife; the Virgin has turned her gaze away from the baby and looks up; none of the three protagonists meets the gaze of the others, and none looks at us. This asymmetric circulation is a disturbing factor of the Molfetta canvas. The putative father, therefore, turns to Mary and points to the Child with the gesture of eloquence that in Christian iconography was always attributed to the blessing Christ. The exercise of the hands is an important indicator of the meanings that artists intend to convey in a painting. In this case, Joseph's pointed index and middle fingers point towards Jesus' groin; the action that Antonio de Bellis introduces in the Holy Family belongs to the typology of ostentatio genitalium: for the representation of the incarnate Word in Western art, artists mainly had this place of Christ's flesh available to visualize the foundational core of faith. Remembering John 1, 14 ("And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us"), the silent dialogue of the Molfetta painting transmits through gestures: "I am the Word (Jesus' hand on his chest) and I have taken on the flesh of every man (Joseph points to the groin)". He simultaneously enunciates the goal of his condition as God-man, connected to the mother's reaction; Mary joins her hands in a sign of adoration, however, the truth of the incarnation shown by Joseph and confirmed by Jesus (pointing to himself) arouses in the mother a disturbance that dissociates her from the present and induces her to look up.

The setting is the manger, as indicated by a rope hanging from the ceiling, but the absence of straw on Jesus' bed evokes a moment after Christmas; Joseph shows the humanity of the Son of God to his wife, verified by the genitals that men confusingly use to confront death. At the same time, Jesus points to himself, reminding the Virgin of the purpose of kenosis in the flesh. Aware of the Son's destiny, and already pierced by the sword announced by Simeon (forty days after birth), Mary raises her gaze for a silent plea, or for a surrender.