06 works, Today, December 27th, is Joseph the Betrothed's day, his story, illustrated #359

Guido Reni, (1575–1642)

St Joseph with Infant Christ in his Arms, c. 1620s 

Oil on canvas

Height: 126 cm (49.6 in); Width: 101 cm (39.7 in)

Hermitage Museum,  Saint Petersburg, Russia

Guido Reni (4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style. Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. When Reni was about twenty years old he migrated to the rising rival studio, named Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the "newly embarked", or progressives), led by Lodovico Carracci. He went on to form the nucleus of a prolific and successful school of Bolognese painters who followed Annibale Carracci to Rome. Like many other Bolognese painters, Reni's painting was thematic and eclectic in style. More on Guido Reni

The holy and righteous Joseph the Betrothed, also referred to as Joseph of Nazareth, was the foster-father of Jesus Christ. Not much is known of Joseph except that he was "of the House of David" and lived in the town of Nazareth. His date of death is unknown, though he was still living when Jesus was 12 years old.

Gerard van Honthorst, (1592–1656)

Childhood of Christ, circa 1620

Oil on canvas

Height: 137 cm (53.9 in); Width: 185 cm (72.8 in)

Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Gerard van Honthorst (4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became especially noted for his depiction of artificially lit scenes. Early in his career he visited Rome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced by Caravaggio. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter. More on Gerard van Honthorst

The canonical gospels clearly that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus, and that Joseph was not his father; yet Joseph's paternity was essential to establish Jesus' Davidic descent. A few centuries later the developing doctrine was that Mary was a virgin not only at the time of the conception and birth of Christ, but throughout her life.

Rosso Fiorentino, (1494–1540)

Betrothal of The Virgin c. 1523

Oil on panel

Height: 325 cm (10.6 ft); Width: 250 cm (98.4 in)

Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Florence, Italy.

Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (8 March 1495 in Gregorian style, or 1494 according to the calculation of times in Florence where the year began on 25 March – 14 November 1540), known as Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "red Florentine" in Italian), or Il Rosso, was an Italian Mannerist painter, in oil and fresco, belonging to the Florentine school.

Born in Florence with the red hair that gave him his nickname, Rosso first trained in the studio of Andrea del Sarto. In late 1523, Rosso moved to Rome, where he was exposed to the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and other Renaissance artists, resulting in the realignment of his artistic style.

Fleeing Rome after the Sacking of 1527, Rosso eventually went to France where he secured a position at the court of Francis I in 1530, remaining there until his death. Together with Francesco Primaticcio, Rosso was one of the leading artists to work at the Chateau Fontainebleau as part of the "First School of Fontainebleau", spending much of his life there. 

Rosso's reputation, along those of other stylized late Renaissance Florentines, was long out of favour in comparison to other more naturalistic and graceful contemporaries, but has revived considerably in recent decades. That his masterpiece is in a small city, away from the tourist track, was a factor in this, especially before the arrival of photography. His poses are certainly contorted, and his figures often appear haggard and thin, but his work has considerable power. More on Fiorentino Rosso

Joseph was betrothed to the Virgin Mary at the time that Mary conceived Jesus. Luke says that he lived at Nazareth in Galilee. He is called a "just man". He was by trade a carpenter. He is last mentioned in connection with the journey to Jerusalem, when Jesus was twelve years old. It is probable that Joseph died before Jesus entered on his public ministry because only Mary was present at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, and he is not described at the crucifixion along with Mary. In addition, St. Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus, a duty that would have fallen to St. Joseph had he been alive.

Daniele Crespi, (around 1598/1600 - 1630 Milan)

Dream of St. Joseph, around 1620/1630

Oil on canvas

297 cm × 203 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum,  Vienna, Austria

Daniele Crespi (1598 – 19 July 1630) was an Italian painter and draughtsman. He is regarded as one of the most original artists working in Milan in the 1620s. He broke away from the exaggerated manner of Lombard Mannerism in favour of an early Baroque style, distinguished by clarity of form and content. A prolific history painter, he was also known for his portraits.

His training is not well documented and he is first recorded in 1619 as working with local painter Guglielmo Caccia on an assignment in a church in Milan.

Crespi was mainly active as painter of religious subjects used as decoration for churches. He was also known for his sensitive portraits. He was an excellent colorist, known for the simplistic beauty of his compositions. His best works include a series of pictures from the life of Saint Bruno (now in the Certosa di Garegnano in Milan) and a depiction of the Stoning of St. Stephen (in Brera).

Another masterpiece is the dark 1628 Supper of St Carlo Borromeo in the church of Santa Maria della Passione in Milan, one of the best-known early 17th-century paintings in northern Italy. Other works by him can be found in Milan and Pavia. More on Daniele Crespi

Following the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, Joseph is told by an angel in a dream to take the family to Egypt to escape the massacre of the children of Bethlehem planned by Herod, the ruler of the Roman province of Judea.

John Everett Millais, (1829–1896)

Christ in the House of His Parents, c. between 1849 and 1850

Oil on canvas

Height: 86.4 cm (34 in); Width: 139.7 cm (55 in)

Tate Britain

Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, (8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator. he was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

 

A child prodigy, at the age of eleven Millais became the youngest student to enter the Royal Academy Schools. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded at his family home in London. Millais became the most famous exponent of the style, his painting Christ in the House of His Parents (1850) generating considerable controversy. By the mid-1850s Millais was moving away from the Pre-Raphaelite style and developing a new and powerful form of realism in his art. His later works were enormously successful, making Millais one of the wealthiest artists of his day. While early 20th-century critics, reading art through the lens of Modernism, viewed much of his later production as wanting, this perspective has changed in recent decades, as his later works have come to be seen in the context of wider changes and advanced tendencies in the broader late-nineteenth-century art world.

 

Millais's personal life has also played a significant role in his reputation. His wife Effie was formerly married to the critic John Ruskin, who had supported Millais's early work. The annulment of the marriage and her wedding to Millais have sometimes been linked to his change of style, but she became a powerful promoter of his work and they worked in concert to secure commissions and expand their social and intellectual circles. More on Sir John Everett Millais

Jesus Christ is described as being the brother of James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and two sisters, Salome and Mary. A tradition at least as early as the second century, still adopted by the Orthodox Church, explains that these "brothers and sisters" were from Joseph's marriage to Salome who left him a widower before he was betrothed to Mary and so making them step-brothers and step-sisters. He was the older brother to Cleopas, who was also married to a woman named Mary.

James Tissot, (French, 1836-1902)

Jesus commended Mary to the care of John the Evangelist

What Our Lord Saw from the Cross, c. 1886-1894

Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray-green wove paper

9 3/4 x 9 1/16 in. (24.8 x 23 cm)

Brooklyn Museum

Jacques Joseph Tissot (15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), Anglicized as James Tissot, was a French painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of Paris society before moving to London in 1871. He became famous as a genre painter of fashionably dressed women shown in various scenes of everyday life. He also painted scenes and characters from the Bible. More on James Tissot

That Jesus commended Mary to the care of John the Evangelist while he was hanging on the cross has been interpreted to also suggest that Joseph had died by that time, and that Joseph and Mary did not have any other children who might care for Mary. More on Joseph the Betrothed

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