St. Joseph, Spouse As Mousetrap

Guido Reni, Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus

Italian, 1620s

St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

The image of Saint Joseph has had a curious history, reflecting the attitude to Joseph as it has developed through time. Today we tend to think of him as the supportive companion of the Virgin Mary or as the strong, silent protector of the Infant Jesus or as the craftsman going quietly about his work. But all of these images are only a few centuries old, if that.

For most of the history of Christian art St. Joseph was either ignored or treated as a very minor background figure. Early depictions of the birth of Jesus don’t include him at all! And, since his appearances in the New Testament end with the episode of the Finding of Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve, that (as a background figure at the Nativity) was pretty much the limit of inclusion for Joseph.

Note:  In 2023 the feast of Saint Joseph will be celebrated on Monday, March 20.  This is because the usual date falls on a Sunday and Sundays take precedence over the feast days of saints, even of saints as intimately connected to the Lord Jesus as Saint Joseph.

The Old Man

In early medieval images in both the East and the West Joseph, when he appears at all, is segregated from Mary and the Christ Child, even in Nativity images. Further, he is invariably shown not as a sturdy man in his prime, but as an old, indeed sometimes a very old. man.

Guido da Siena, The Nativity

Italian, c. 1270

Paris, Musée du Louvre

In this thirteenth-century Italian Nativity scene, Joseph (shown seating at the extreme left at the bottom) has about the same level of importance as the midwives who bathe the Baby Jesus or the kneeling shepherd and his dog.

Duccio, The Nativity
Italian, c. 1308-1311
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art

In this picture, by Duccio, Joseph has increased in size, a sure indicator that he is becoming a more important figure.  So, he is now marginally more important than the midwives and the shepherds with their sheep and dog because he is bigger in size.

Both of these aspects of Joseph’s iconography, his advanced age and his detachment, spring from the concern to protect both the divinity of Christ and the perpetual virginity of Mary. It was thought that a younger, more involved figure might raise questions about his role.1

By the later middle ages this was beginning to change. While still shown as an old man, Joseph began to take a more active role in the scenes of Jesus’ life. He is brought into the same space as Mary and Jesus.  He begins to help at the birth, join Mary in adoration of the Child, welcome the Magi, take part in the Presentation in the Temple and to work.

Master of Flemalle, The Nativity
Netherlandish, 1420
Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts

Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Shepherds
Italian, c. 1455
Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi

Jacques Daret, The Adoration of the Magi
French, c. 1433-1435
Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Jacques Daret, The Presentation of Jesus
French, 1433-1435
Paris, Musée du Petit Palais

Other scenes, taken from apocryphal stories of the life of Mary, began to appear, among them the story of his choice as Mary’s husband and the marriage ceremony itself.  According to the stories, Mary had many eligible suitors.  In order to ensure that the choice would fall to a truly good man, the Temple elders required all the suitors to bring a dry rod to the Temple.  The rods were placed on the altar overnight.  In the morning, only one had blossomed, the rod belonging to Joseph.

Giotto, Mary's Suitors Bring Their Rods to the Temple
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel

Giotto, The Suitors Praying Over Their Rods
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel

Giotto, The Marriage of Mary and Joseph
Italian, c. 1304-1306
Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel

In the scene of the wedding of Mary and Joseph he carries his lily topped rod as a symbol of his own purity and as the sign of divine appointment as foster father for Jesus.

Fra Angelico, The Marriage of the Virgin
Italian, c. 1431-1432
Florence, Museo di San Marco

The Mousetrap

One of the most interesting images of Saint Joseph from the later middle ages/early Renaissance period appears on the right wing of the Annunciation triptych known as the Merode Altarpiece.

Workshop of Robert Campin (Master of Flemalle), Merode Altarpiece
Netherlandish, c. 1427-1432
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection

This triptych, now in the Cloisters branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was painted by the Flemish artist Robert Campin and his workshop during the second quarter of the fifteenth century. The central panel shows the Annunciation taking place in a typical 15th-century town parlor. The right wing shows Joseph in his workshop.  He is seated at a bench and table by the open window of his shop, surrounded by the implements of his trade. 

Robert Campin and Workshop, Saint Joseph, the Mousetrap
Detail of the Merode Altarpiece,  Right Wing

Some completed projects appear on his workbench and on display in the window of the shop.  Most conspicuous among them are two mousetraps (one is on the table, the other on display in the open window). Scholars have identified the symbolic meaning of these mousetraps. They are “the devil’s mousetrap".2



Robert Campin and Workshop, Saint Joseph at his bench with completed mousetrap surrounded by tools and wood shavings
Detail of the Merode Altarpiece,  Right Wing

Robert Campin and Workshop, Saint Joseph with completed mousetrap on display
Detail of the Merode Altarpiece,  Right Wing

The idea of the mousetrap as a symbol for the Redemption is drawn from sermons of Saint Augustine – the Incarnation is God’s mousetrap to catch the devil. The devil wasn’t expecting the Messiah to come in the form of a human baby, especially one born into such humble surroundings.  Further, Saint Joseph himself is a third mousetrap. His presence as the apparent father of Jesus confused the devil further. The devil anticipated contending with a different kind of Messiah, not the child of a humble carpenter.  So, by inspiring the human death of Jesus the devil was himself destroyed.

This image, equating Saint Joseph with the mousetrap, stands at a seminal point for the Josephite iconography. It is probably not a coincidence that this image appeared during the period in which devotion to Saint Joseph began to develop. It was in 1479 that the feast of Saint Joseph, celebrated on March 19, was added to the Roman calendar of commemorations.

Renaissance Developments

During the later Renaissance and into the Baroque period Joseph became more and more evident and involved. His age began to change as well. Although some artists continued to depict him as an older man many began to depict him as young and vigorous. Even those who chose to make him older never again made him as old as did the earlier images.

Michelangelo, Holy Family (Doni Tondo)
Italian, c. 1506
Florence, Gallerie degli Uffizi

Caravaggio, Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Italian, c. 1596-1597
Rome, Galleria Doria-Pamphilji

Philippe de Champaigne, The Presentation of Jesus
Flemish, 1648
Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

Here a darkly-bearded Joseph stands next to Mary holding a basket with their offering of two doves.

Caesar van Everdingen, Holy Family
Dutch, c. 1650
Utrecht, Museum Catherijneconvent

Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Holy Family with a Little Bird
Spanish, c. 1650
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

Francesco Mancini, Holy Family
Italian, c. 1730
Vatican City, Vatican Museums, Pinacoteca

The Foster Father

Artists also began to depict a closer relationship between Jesus and his foster father. They were more frequently seen in close connection to each other. Joseph now participates in family life.  He carries and cares for the infant Jesus and teaches the boy Jesus.  This theme seems to have been particularly attractive to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artists.

Saint Joseph with the Christ Child
Dutch, 17th Century
Maastricht, Bonnefanten Museum

Lucio Massari, La Madonna del Bucato
Italian, c. 1620
Florence, Gallerie degli Uffizi

Jose de Ribera, Saint Joseph and the Boy Jesus
Spanish, c. 1630=1635
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

George de la Tour, The Boy Jesus and Saint Joseph  in the Carpenter's Shop

French, 1642

Paris, Musée du Louvre

Sebastian Martinez, St. Joseph with the Christ Child
Spanish, c. 1650
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

Juan Antonio Frias y Escalante, Saint Joseph and the Infant Christ
Spanish, c. 1660-1665
Saint Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

Saint Joseph with the Infant Christ
Latin American, 18th Century
Auch, Musée des Ameriques

Saint Joseph with the Boy Jesus
Flemish, 18th Century
Paris, Musee du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes

Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus
Dutch, 18th Century
Maastricht, Bonnefantenmuseum

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Saint Joseph with the Christ Child
Italian, c. 1740
Private Collection

Nöel Hallé, Holy Family

French, 1753

Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum

The Two Trinities

Finally, with Mary and Jesus, he forms a sort of terrestrial trinity represented by the familiar formula: Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo, The Two Trinities

Spanish, c. 1675-1682

London, National Gallery of Art

Jacob de Wit, Holy Family and the Holy Trinity
Dutch, 1726
Amsterdam, Amstelkring ("Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder" or "Our Dear Lord in the Attic)" Museum+

Saint Joseph and Recent Popes

In more recent times Joseph has begun to stand on his own, as a saint in his own right. On December 8, 1870 Pope Pius IX, in the decree Quaemadmodem Deus (“As Almighty God”) declared him the patron of the universal Church. *

In 1899, in the encyclical Quamquam pluries (“Although many times”) Pope Leo XIII urged all Catholics to give Joseph special honor during the month of March and especially on the 19th of March, his feast day.* 

Further the phrase “Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse" was added to the Divine Praises by Pope Benedict XV on February 23, 1921.  Benedict XV also encouraged devotion to Saint Joseph in the Motu Proprio, Bonum Sane (It was a good thing), of July 25, 1920. *

In 1955 Pope Pius XII instituted an additional feast day for Saint Joseph, under the title of St. Joseph the Worker. It is celebrated on May 1, although it is frequently displaced by the Easter weekday.

In 2012 Pope Benedict XVI, whose baptismal name is Joseph, proclaimed Joseph as patron of the New Evangelization during the special Year of Faith celebrated that year.*

Similarly, Pope Francis, in an Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde ("With the Heart of a Father"), dated December 8, 2020, has proclaimed the liturgical year 2021 to be a special year devoted to Saint Joseph during which Catholics will reflect on Joseph's life and qualities.  The Pope notes that it has been 150 years since Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph as patron of the universal Church. He adds further that 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, has reminded us of the importance of those seemingly hidden lives that keep the world going.  As he says "Each of us can discover in Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble. Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. "*


© M. Duffy, 2012, updated 2021, 2022 and 2023.
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1. A good summary of the history of images of St. Joseph is found at http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4464&CFID=126000758&CFTOKEN=56733566

2. Meyer Schapiro, "Muscipula Diaboli," The Symbolism of the Mérode Altarpiece, The Art Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Sep., 1945), pp. 182-187. http://reserves.fcla.edu/rsv/NC/010014478-1.pdf

Also see: Margaret B. Freeman, “The Iconography of the Merode Altarpiece”, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 16, no. 4, December 1957, pp. 130-139.

*  The Papal documents referred to are available at the website of the Holy See (http://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/it.html).  The landing page is in Italian, but one can choose another language in the box at the upper right corner (for the entire site) and each document has translations available in multiple languages.  Scroll down on the landing page to the small portraits of the Popes and click on the Pope whose writings you are interested in.  That will lead you to the website devoted to the works of each Pope from Benedict XIV (1740-1758) to Francis.

+  This museum is quite unique.  It is a clandestine Catholic church tucked into the attic of a typical 17th-century middle class merchant's house in Amsterdam.  This dates from the period in which Catholic worship was banned in some provinces of the Netherlands, where a Calvinist government was in power.

Now Is the Time!

Barthel Bruyn, Vanitas
Dutch, died 1555
Otterlo, Krueller-Moeller

The text reads "Everything falls into death; death is the ultimate limit of things"

“Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Working together, then,
we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
For he says:
‘In an acceptable time I heard you,
and on the day of salvation I helped you.’


Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.”
(2 Corinthinas 5:20-21 and 6:1-2)
Second Reading from the Mass for Ash Wednesday*

“Now is the time, now is the day” St. Paul tells us in the portion of Second Corinthians that is read in Ash Wednesday Masses as we commence the annual observance of the penitential season of Lent. St. Paul is reminding us, quite passionately, that we must not waste time and wait for “tomorrow” to seek forgiveness and reform our lives. The time is now, for “tomorrow” may not come.


This same sense of the swift passage of time and the terrible instability of life inform a type of painting that appeared during a relatively short time in the history of Western art. These are in the genre of still life paintings known as the “Vanitas”.

Jacob de Gheyn II, Vanitas
Dutch, 1603
New York, Metropolitan Museum
The inscription above the mirror reads "Human Vanity"

Vanitas (vanity) paintings began to appear in the 16th century, but reach their peak numbers during the 17th century and disappear during the 18th century. Sometimes they are also called 'memento mori' (remember death) paintings. 

Memento Mori
Flemish, c. 1530
The Hague, Mauritshuis Museum

They were popular throughout northern Europe, including the Netherlands, France, England and Spain.  Therefore, they cut across the Catholic/Reformed religious divide of European society at the time.

The era in which they were popular was one filled with European wars (wars of religion, the Thirty Years War, the wars of Louis XIV), epidemics (the Plagues of Seville, London, Vienna) and "the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to". 

Early images were fairly simple, often consisting of little more than a skull and extinguished candle and, possibly, an inscription attesting to the fragility of things (see above).  Sometimes they could be brutally explicit, as in the print below.  Here, the figure of a  beautiful woman (above the waist) is revealed to be a rotten skeleton (below).  She is framed by two vertical objects.  To her right is a tall crucifix, with a banner around the shaft, bearing the words "O crux fidelis inter omnes Arbores" ("O faithful cross among all trees").  On her left is a palm tree with a banner bearing the words "Justus ut palma florebit in Domo Domini" extended on a floating banner by the words "Nemini parco qui vivit in orbe" .

Luca Bertelli, Vanitas
Italian, 1578
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum

The first phrase is a quotation from Psalm 92:13-14 "The just shall flourish like the palm tree...in the house of the Lord".  The second is more difficult to identify, but appears to be an directed at us.  It can be translated as "I spare no one who lives in the world."1  It's proximity to the crowned heads of a pope, a king and an emperor appears to be an illustration of the point of the quotation and the "I" who spares no one is Death. The quotation is associated with the late medieval Dance of Death motif, which is a precursor to the Memento Mori and Vanitas themes.  

At her feet is another banner that reads: "Ne te discipiat mulier formosa, superne ossa subornata, faetida sola latent" .  This can be translated as: "Do not let a beautiful woman distract you, the bones cover the rotteness that hides below."  She is surrounded by a border of skeletal arms crossed below skulls, a skull lies at the foot of the crucifix and the crowned heads lie at the foot of the palm tree, on their way to becoming skulls.

The message of this print could hardly by more specific.  Glory and beauty are fleeting, what counts is one's repentance.

Over time more the harshness became tempered, other items were added.  Flowers, with their transient beauty, were obvious early additions.

Later on, the scenes became more and more crowded with objects of all kinds: musical instruments, books, drawings, crowns (both regal and papal), armor, clocks, money, mirrors, scientific instruments, statues, objects made of glass, bubbles, etc.  The mood became lighter and the fearsome Memento Mori began to transmute into the wistful moment of nostalgia, of remembrance of happier moments, of reflection on the transience of all things, rather than of fear of future judgment.  

Pieter Clauszoon_Vanitas with the Spinario
Dutch, 1628
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum

Pieter Clauszoon_Vanitas with Tulip
Dutch, c. 1630
Otterlo, Kroeller-Mueller Museum

Vincent Laurenzoon van der Vinne I, Vanitas
Dutch, post-1649
Paris, Musée du Louvre

The inclusion of the crown and the portrait of King Charles I of England 

references the king's execution in January 1649.

Simon Renard de Saint-Andre, Vanitas
French, 1650
Lyons, Musée des Beaux-Arts

Pieter Boel, Vanitas
Flemish, 1663
Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts

Most often these works are devoid of people.  However, very occasionally they are populated, though not always by the living. In some, the skull is replaced by a complete skeleton (related to the skeletons that often appear during the same time period in tomb sculpture).

The greatest of these is the painting in the Hospital de la Caridad in Seville, Spain by the painter Juan de Valdes-Leal.  The skeleton, who is Death, is armed with scythe, shroud and coffin.  His bony hand extinguishes a candle and simultaneously points to an inscription that translates as "in the twinkling of an eye", a reminder of how quickly death devours earthly achievements.  

Juan de Valdes-Leal, Vanitas

Spanish, c. 1670-1672

Seville, Hospital de la Caridad

Occasionally an artist painted a self-portrait of himself as part of a Vanitas composition. Initially, the artists painted themselves as tiny reflections in shiny surfaces within the assemblage of still life, such as metal or glass objects.  However, as the17th century advanced, some began to paint themselves into the picture, as living examples of transience.  There is some debate about the meaning of these curious self-portraits.  Are they perhaps painted as an act of penitence?  Or are they clever demonstrations of the artist's power to overcome transience through his or her art?2

Clara Peeters, Still Life with Flowers and Gilded Objects
Dutch, 1612
Karlsruhe, Kunsthalle

Here the artist's self-portrait is in the form of several identical teeny reflections in the tall cup on the right.  See the detail below.

Clara Peeters, Detail of Still Life with Flowers and Gilded Objects 

Showing the tiny self-portraits of the artist at her easel reflected in the shiny surface of the 

decorative knobs on the cup.

Pieter Clauszoon, Vanitas with Glass Ball
Dutch, 1628
Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The self-portrait in this work is a reflection in the glass ball.

David Bailly, Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols
Dutch, 1651
Leiden, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal

In this picture the artist not only paints himself, he may also be playing with the idea of the transience of time.  The relevant quotation here is "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity".  It appears, in Latin, on the sheet of paper drooping from the table at the far right.  It has been proposed that the actual self-portrait is the painted minature being held by the artst who is self-portrayed as a young man.  By painting himself in two stages of life is he commenting on the transience of existence or is he demonstrating that his artistic skill can transcend time?

Edwaert Collier, Self-Portrait with Vanitas
Dutch, 1684
Private Collection

On the right of this picture is a sheet of paper which reads "Vita Brevis, Ars Lunga" (Life is short, art is long"). This spells out the ambiguity of some of these self-portrait images, reminders of both mortality and of the power of art.

Angels sometimes appeared as well. The Spanish painter Antonio de Pereda included angels in some of his works. In his Allegory of Vanity (1634), the angel holds a miniature portrait of the Emperor Charles V.  The angel balances it on a globe, and points to a location which appears to be somewhere off the northern coast of South America. Since Charles was long dead when the picture was painted, this may be a reference to the fact that Charles’ dominion over the New World availed him nothing against death.

Antonio de Pereda, Vanitas
Spanish, 1634
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Similarly, the angel in the Knight’s Dream holds a banner which proclaims in Latin 'Eternally stinging, it flies and kills quickly”. “It” is the bow and arrow drawn in the center of the banner, a reminder that death can come quickly and make the items of vanity spread on the table in front of the dozing knight utterly worthless. 

Antonio de Pereda, The Knight's Dream
Spanish, 1655
Madrid, Academia Real

The meaning behind all these paintings is that of St. Paul, now is the time to repent.

© M. Duffy, 2012, update 2023
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*  Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

1.  I would like to thank the anonymous reader who sent me this translation.  It made much more sense than my own attempts.  And with that corrected information I was able to find more information about the quotation.

2.  For a review of the arguments see:  Celeste Brusati, "Stilled Lives:  Self-portraiture and self-reflection in seventeenth-century Netherlandish still-life painting", Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 20, No. 2/3 (1990 - 1991), pp. 168-182 at http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/materiality/readings%20PDFs/brusati%20still%20lives.pdf