Saint Joseph and the Child

After the saints, the Holy Family was the most represented iconographic theme within the pictorial production of New Granada in the 17th and 18th centuries.

From the 16th century onward, Saint Joseph began to be portrayed individually, thus giving him a prominence he had not previously held. This canvas, attributed to Gaspar de Figueroa, exemplifies how this saint came to represent the ideal of father and husband promoted by the Catholic Church.

In this painting, he is shown standing, dressed in a green tunic and yellow cloak, colors with which he is usually portrayed.

The high priest who arranged Mary’s marriage asked single men and widowers to bring a branch to the temple, and the one that blossomed would indicate the chosen one. Joseph was the one who presented the blossoming branch. That is why it is one of his principal attributes.

The staff shown in this image has lilies, an iconographic attribute that symbolizes his purity and chastity, and roses, a flower that alludes to the Passion of Christ.

The figure of Saint Joseph was of great importance to the Poor Clare nuns of Santafé, because, being the adoptive father of Christ, they paid him great devotion.

This is evident through the festivities of Saint Joseph, for which the nuns bought large quantities of wax for the candles that illuminated the old church. For these celebrations, the temple was dressed in the finest liturgical vestments

The figure of Saint Joseph was also central to the panegyric prayer promulgated by the Archbishop of Santafé, Cristóbal de Torres, in 1647, as part of the consecration of the temple.