Saint Joseph with the Christ Child
The painting, despite its large dimensions, should be considered a “room painting”, intended for private devotion. The noble serenity of the figure of Giuseppe, the Raphaelesque breadth of the volumes, the choice of clear and luminous chromaticism suggest a dating to the mature years of Reni’s activity, around 1625-30. The iconography, dear to the climate of the Counter-Reformation which promoted the cult of Saint Joseph, is interpreted by the painter with sublime detachment, without giving up the play of glances and affections between two characters. On the right, during the 1988 restoration, the tiny scene of the Flight into Egypt appeared, previously hidden by the lateral folding of the canvas. The work comes from the Archbishop’s Picture Gallery and is part of the collection of Cardinal Cesare Monti (1593-1650).
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Artwork details
- Artist:
- Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 - 1642)
- Title:
- Saint Joseph with the Christ Child
- Date:
- 1625-1630
- Medium and technique:
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions:
- 124,8 × 91 cm
- Inventory:
- MD 2002.109.002
- Location
-
Location: Monti Collection, first floor
The Monti Collection comprises a group of paintings and drawings from the Archbishop’s Picture Gallery that reflect the collecting choices of Cardinal Cesare Monti (1593–1650). These were fully in keeping with the culture of Saint Charles Borromeo and the spirit of the Counter-Reformation: art, and painting in particular, was intended to encourage virtue and moderation among the faithful. The cardinal’s choices focused especially on the sixteenth-century Venetian school, painters active in Lombardy in the early seventeenth century, the followers of Leonardo and the Emilian school.
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