The Enigma of St Joseph in Poussin'sHoly Family on the Steps

Abstract

The writer discusses the symbolism of the figure of St. Joseph in Nicolas Poussin's painting The Holy Family on the Steps. In this work, Christ and his Mother are seated beside St. Joseph, who is painted in shadow and is absorbed in measuring with a pair of compasses on a tablet. In this representation of St. Joseph, Poussin is exalting the saint as the earthly artisan who is surrogate of God the Father, the heavenly Artisan, an image that is rooted in a long and venerable iconographical and theological tradition. Complementing this concept of Joseph as the earthly artisan, Poussin casts the saint in shadow, thus alluding to the hiddenness of his dignity as the representative of God the Father on earth, as well as to his roles as the shadow of the Eternal Father that concealed the God-child and as the shadow of the Holy Spirit that protected the Virgin Mary and concealed the Incarnation from Satan.