FR - Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus

An emblematic figure in the Gospels, Saint Joseph, Mary's husband, is a recurring figure in Western art history. His depictions date back to the Middle Ages. Saint Joseph consistently appears in episodes from Jesus' childhood, but always as a marginal and modest figure (especially in traditional iconography of the Nativity). The oldest depiction of Saint Joseph as a saint in his own right is thought to be that by Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce, Florence, painted between 1332 and 1338. Saint Joseph is always depicted as a humble worker, often with carpenter's tools or the lily, a symbol of purity.

Formally, FR organizes the composition very rigorously, following rational schemes and a search for balance and harmony. The figures exhibit a certain typical monumentality that still harks back to the High Renaissance, and their rendering is perfectly in line with a classicist naturalism subject to considerable idealization. Technically, the painter displays a fine hand, especially in his depiction of anatomy, even that hidden by skillfully flowing draperies. Although his style is somewhat dry, he still manages to apply just the right amount of sfumato, bringing his figures to life. Space is perceived through passages of light that signal depth, achieved through subtle tonal gradations of color.

From a stylistic and formal analysis of the work, we can outline the profile of an artist likely from the 17th or 18th century, still heavily influenced by a typically classicist rationality and monumentality. However, his somewhat dry pictorial style and the bright chromatic range of the garments suggest some vestiges of a Mannerist cultural context.

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