The Last of the Patriarchs: A Marginal Motif in the Visual Reception of Saint Joseph
The reception history of Joseph of Nazareth reveals a complex process whereby the shadowy figure from the canonical gospels slowly emerges as a major saint of western Christianity, and, for Roman Catholics, patron of the universal church. This is reflected in visual art in the contrast between an ac...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
2021
|
| In: |
Die Bibel in der Kunst
Year: 2021, Volume: 5, Pages: 1-17 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Joseph of Nazareth
/ Kirchenpatron
/ Genealogy
/ Abraham, Biblical person
/ Iconography
|
| IxTheo Classification: | CA Christianity HA Bible |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The reception history of Joseph of Nazareth reveals a complex process whereby the shadowy figure from the canonical gospels slowly emerges as a major saint of western Christianity, and, for Roman Catholics, patron of the universal church. This is reflected in visual art in the contrast between an active, youthful Joseph in post-Tridentine art and an older, more marginal figure more typical in earlier centuries. This article examines an often-neglected thread running through Matthew’s Infancy Narrative which has left traces on the visual reception: Joseph as son of Abraham and son of David, the last of the patriarchs standing on the ‘top rung’ of the genealogical ‘ladder’. This motif, which plays on Matthew’s ambiguity about Joseph’s place in the phases of salvation history, connects three prominent elements in Christian art: Joseph as adopted ancestor who ‘gives’ Christ his Davidic lineage; the dreams of Joseph, of which the dreams of the patriarch Jacob are a type; Joseph’s advanced age, derived from the extra-canonical infancy gospels, which comes to underscore Joseph’s patriarchal role, and his similarity to other transitional figures between the older and newer covenants, such as Mary’s father Joachim. |
|---|---|
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Die Bibel in der Kunst
|