Anyone who grew up in an Irish-American Catholic family in the 1950s or 1960s is probably familiar with the expression “Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” which served as an expression of astonishment, amazement or even anger more often than as a pious invocation.
Indeed, during the entire first millennium, the concept was completely missing from the visual arts. All references to the early years of Jesus’ life focused on mother and Child. It was they who appeared in the catacombs and in the mosaics that decorated the early Christian churches. And it is the Madonna and Child in stained glass and sculpture that decorated the Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals of medieval Europe.
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| Adoration of the Magi Earliest known image of the childhood of Jesus Early Christian painting, 3rd Century AD Rome, Catacomb of Priscilla |
Similarly, one may be familiar with the pious custom of heading written documents with the initials JMJ, usually accompanied by a cross that was very common during the same time period. Both refer to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. However, the entire concept of “the Holy Family” is a relatively recent one, with the feast of the Holy Family being established only a little more than 100 years ago, in 1893.
Indeed, during the entire first millennium, the concept was completely missing from the visual arts. All references to the early years of Jesus’ life focused on mother and Child. It was they who appeared in the catacombs and in the mosaics that decorated the early Christian churches. And it is the Madonna and Child in stained glass and sculpture that decorated the Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals of medieval Europe.
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| Window Known as "Notre-Dame de la Belle Verriere" French, c. 1150 Chartres, Cathedral of Notre-Dame |
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| Enthroned Virgin and Child French (Auvergne), c. 1150-1200 New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection |
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| Our Lady of Paris French, Early 14th Century Paris, Cathedral of Notre-Dame |
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| Rogier van der Weyden, Enthroned Madonna and Child Flemish, c.1430 Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection |
As we have previously seen,1 St. Joseph, in spite of his important appearances in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, was absent or relegated to the far background of Nativity scenes, almost always shown as a very elderly man or little more than a servant. This position only began to change and to soften during the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
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| Guido da Siena, Nativity Italian, c. 1275-1280 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| The Limbourg Brothers (Herman, Jean and Pol), Adoration of the Shepherds From the Tres Belles Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry French (Paris), c. 1405-1409 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection MS 54.1.1a b, Fol. 48v |
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| Pietro Perugino, Nativity Italian, c. 1500-1505 Chicago, Art Institute |
Yet, even as the figure of Joseph began to become more prominent, younger and more involved he was still kept subtly separate from the traditional grouping of Madonna and Child. Often, he appears in the background or on the other side of some physical separation from Mary and Jesus or is oriented in a different direction.
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| Niclaus Weckmann, Holy Family German, c. 1500 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Hans Baldung Gruen, Rest on the Flight into Egypt German, c, 1512 Vienna, Akademie der bildenden Künste |
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| Joos van Cleve, Holy Family Flemish, c. 1515 Vienna, Akademie der bildenden Künste |
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| Agnolo Bronzino, Holy Family with St. John the Baptist Italian, c. 1540 Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi |
It appears that it wasn’t until the seventeenth century that Joseph began to come into his own as a fully rounded figure represented as equal in position to Mary.
It is in the Low Countries and Spain (which were tied together politically for much of this period) that the familiar image of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph emerges.
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| Matthias Stom, Holy Family Dutch, c. 1640s Barcelona, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya |
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| Jusepe Ribera, Holy Family with St. Catherine Spanish, 1648 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Noel Halle, The Holy Family French, 1753 Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum |
This happier view of the Holy Family carried over into the Spanish colonies in the New World as well. Spanish colonial painters produced some of the most charming images of the Holy Family and of Joseph particularly.
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| Jose de Alciber, The Ministry of Saint Joseph Mexican, c. 1771 Mexico City, Museo Nacional de Arte |
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| José de Alcíbar, The Blessing of the Table Mexican, c. 1780-1800 Mexico City, Museo Nacional de Arte |
Among the most striking of Holy Family images is the unusual subject called the Return to Nazareth from Egypt. As opposed to the more familiar Flight Into Egypt,2 which depicts the baby Jesus being taken to Egypt to escape Herod, the iconography of this subject shows Jesus as a young boy (no longer a baby or toddler) walking while holding the hand of one or both parents. The earliest example I've found of this theme dates to the late fifteenth century and the latest to the eighteenth century.
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| Rambures Master, Return to Nazareth from Egypt from Biblia pauperum Northern French or Femish (Hesdin or Amiens), c. 1470 The Hague, Meermano Museum MS. MMW 10 A 15, fol. 24v |
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| Jacob Jordaens, Return to Nazareth from Egypt Flemish, c. 1616 Berlin, Staatliche Museen |
Other striking images are found in paintings called The Two Trinities.
One, by the Spaniard Bartolome Murillo shows the boy Jesus as a participant in both the earthly trinity and the heavenly one.
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| Bartolome Murillo, The Two Trinities Spanish, c. 1675-1682 London, National Gallery |
Another, even more striking painting, by the Italian Carlo Dolci, shows the adult Jesus seated between Mary and Joseph. In both paintings it is Joseph who assumes the more active role, while Mary remains contemplative, “pondering all these things”. In the Dolci Joseph is actively and attentively listening to Jesus; while in the Murillo he gazes out of the picture at us with a gesture that presents Jesus to us.
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| Carlo Dolci, The Two Trinities Italian, c. 1630 Private Collection |
Into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries both images of the Holy Family, that with the subsidiary Joseph and that with the more equal Joseph, continued to be produced.
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In the nineteenth century it became possible to think of what family life at Nazareth might actually have looked like. So, painters imagined Joseph working at his carpentry trade or assisting in the education of the child Jesus.
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| Jean-Antoine Watteau, Holy Family French, c. 1717-1718 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Jacob de Wit, Two Trinities Dutch, 1726 Amsterdam, Amstelkring Museum
(In spite of its title this picture clearly also belongs in the tradition of the Return to Nazareth from Egypt mentioned above.)
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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Holy Family Appearing to St. Gaetano
Italian, c. 1735-1736
Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia
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| Francisco de Goya, Holy Family with the Child Saint John the Baptist Spanish, c. 1788-1789 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Martin Johann Schmidt, Holy Kindred Austrian, 1786 Vienna, Belvedere Museum These last two versions of the subject also include the very young Saint John the Baptist. |
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| Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhartshoff, Holy Family German, c. 1815 Berlin, Nationalgalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin |
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| John Everett Millais, Christ in the House of His Parents (The Carpenter's Shop) English, c. 1849-1850 London, Tate Gallery |
However, as time has advanced I think it is safe to say that the words “Holy Family” now principally bring to mind the late, more equal Joseph whose role is perhaps most charmingly shown in a painting of the Holy Family With A Little Bird by Murillo.
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| Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Holy Family With A Little Bird Spanish, 1650 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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1. Margaret Duffy, "St. Joseph, Spouse As Mousetrap", Ad Imaginem Dei blog, Tuesday, May 1, 2012,
http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/05/st-joseph-spouse-as-mousetrap.html
2. See several essays on the iconographic traditions for the subjects of the "Flight into Egypt" and the "Rest on the Flight into Egypt". They may be found at the following links:
The Flight into Egypt -- The Holy Refugees
The Flight Into Egypt -- The Variations
http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2012/05/st-joseph-spouse-as-mousetrap.html
2. See several essays on the iconographic traditions for the subjects of the "Flight into Egypt" and the "Rest on the Flight into Egypt". They may be found at the following links:
The Flight into Egypt -- The Holy Refugees
The Flight Into Egypt -- The Variations
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Part I of 3
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