May is a month traditionally devoted to Mary, so how fitting that it should begin with the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, the silent witness of her purity and the bedrock of the Holy Family.
This 18th century image of Saint Joseph’s Dream and Repentance, made from shell and oil paint, comes from a series of six scenes dedicated to the Life of the Virgin. It recalls the episode from the opening chapter of Matthew’s gospel when Joseph discovered Mary was pregnant and considered sending her away, but ‘while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins’.
These panels called ‘enconchados’ were executed using a technique of Oriental origin, and were very popular in New Spanish culture, where local artists developed and espoused them as one of their distinctive products. Their characteristic gleam stems from a combination of inlaid sheets of mother-of-pearl and fine layers of oil paint.
🎨 Anonymous, Saint Joseph’s Dream and Repentance, XVIII century. Shell work on panel. The Prado, Madrid.
The Arts of Golden Age Spain and the Hispanic World 