All Saints' Church holds a secret!   

In the side chapel, there is an oil painting - its' subject: The Holy Family - Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

This is the first part of this mystery! 

It appears that the painting is a copy of the original, by a local artist, Merryl Middleton,

a copy of the original ......  

This is the second part of the mystery ! 

The final part of the mystery, relates to its' composition. 

It appears that, the original painting, which is preserved in the art collection of the Cathedral Church in Burgos, in Spain, does not bear a complete resemblance to our copy.  There is a person missing!   

In the original painting by the painter Andrea del Surto (1531), he includes the figure of John the Baptist, who sits just to the left of The Blessed Virgin Mary and in front of Joseph. Click on the images below to view larger versions on your screen.

Original oil painting of The Holy Family		All Saints' Copy of The Holy Family

Part of the mystery can be solved .... but why is there a mystery at all ? 

Our copy was a true copy of the copy .   However, why was the copy of the copy, not a copy of the original - why was our original copy not a true copy of the original ?  We do not know.