  About the Artwork
  
  
  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.
  
  
  Title
  Saint Joseph and the Christ Child
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1767and 1769
  
  Artist
  Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1696-1770
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Italian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 60 5/8 × 43 13/16 inches (154 × 111.3 cm)
  Framed: 69 × 52 3/4 × 3 1/4 inches (175.3 × 134 × 8.3 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  44.213
  
  
  Copyright
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