Saint Joseph with Jesus
- unknown artist
Unknown artist, Saint Joseph with Jesus, 1700s. Paint and gold leaf on alabaster; 18 × 10⅜ × 7¾ in. Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2015.546.
Sculpted images were carved in alabaster by all major cultures of pre-Hispanic Mexico. In Spain, images were also carved in alabaster. In the Americas, the two traditions merged during the colonial period and statues of saints were carved from the local alabasters, known as tecali in Mexico and as huamanga stone in Peru. In the Americas, alabaster carvings were also influenced by the large quantities of ivories arriving from Asia on the Manila Galleon.
This polychromed tecali sculpture shows the Christ Child walking hand in hand with his earthly father, St. Joseph, atop a platform adorned with angels. Devotion to St. Joseph increased during the 1600s and 1700s, partially influenced by Teresa of Ávila and the Carmelite institutions she founded. The Franciscans also promoted Joseph in Mexico, where he was eventually declared patron saint in 1555.
– revised by Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2023
- Exotic Cargo, 2002-present, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO.