Saint Joseph with the Christ Child

Saint Joseph with the Christ Child, painted in 1767 and now at the Courtauld Gallery, is the fourth of the surviving modelli from the Aranjuez altarpiece series. The devotion to Saint Joseph — Christ's earthly father, the carpenter of Nazareth who raised the Son of God in his household — received increased theological and devotional emphasis in the eighteenth century, particularly in Spain where the Carmelite tradition had long promoted Josephine devotion. Tiepolo's intimate treatment of the father-and-child relationship contrasts with the monumental scale of his Spanish ceiling frescoes being executed simultaneously at the Royal Palace: the same hand that painted the enormous Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy painted this tender domestic devotional image. The Courtauld's collection of four Aranjuez modelli is the largest single institutional holding of works from Tiepolo's final commission.

Restrained palette and intimate scale distinguish this from Tiepolo's monumental decorative work. The tender interaction between the elderly Joseph and the Christ Child is rendered with soft, warm light that creates an atmosphere of domestic sanctity.