Tiepolo, Giambattista (1696-1770)
San Giuseppe e Gesù Bambino (Saint Joseph and the Christ Child)
1767–1769
Oil on canvas, 154 × 111.3 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
This imposing yet tender representation of Saint Joseph gently cradling the infant Jesus in his arms was the central portion of seven altarpieces commissioned from Giovanni Battista Tiepolo for the church of San Pascual Baylon at the royal palace at Aranjuez, just outside Madrid. The ensemble also included an Immaculate Conception, a stigmatization of Saint Francis, and a Saint Charles Borromeo meditating on the crucifix. One of the most accomplished Italian painters of the eighteenth century, Tiepolo was also one of the most international. Born and trained in Venice, he was much sought after to work in foreign courts, and he spent stretches of time in Würzberg (in northern Bavaria) and Madrid. King Charles III of Spain commissioned this work. Unfortunately, Tiepolo never had the opportunity to see it in situ at San Pascual Baylon: the church was completed seven weeks after his death. (DIA)