Saint Joseph with the Christ Child
Ca. 1650. Oil on canvas.Room 018
Saint Joseph grasps Jesus’s arm to prevent him from taking fruit from the basket. This action is loaded with meaning, given the sacrificial and Eucharistic significance of both the Child’s violet tunic and the grapes and pomegranates that predominate in the fruit basket. The painter, who is now getting better known, worked in Jaen and at Court in Madrid in the mid-seventeenth century.