Today, I completed “La Sacra Famiglia.” This is my first, and probably my only, commission. I painted it at the request of my mother, who asked me for the first time in her life to create something for her. Don’t get me wrong; throughout my life, she has asked me to do many things, but she has never asked for a gift or anything just for herself. Whenever we inquired about what she wanted for Christmas or her birthday, her response was always “nothing.” So, when she approached me and requested this painting, I felt both happy and flattered, but I was also somewhat scared. Throughout the entire process, I kept thinking, “What if she doesn’t like it?”. We did have a long preliminary discussion on what this scene should look like. She had a very specific idea in mind. Me, when it comes to this type of scene, I’m more a Caravaggio kind of guy, you know the “chiaro scuro” kind of type. But she didn’t like all my ideas. So this is it.