Art

Artist: Anton Raphael Mengs

Created: 1773–1774

In the Gospel of Matthew, the apostle relates: “And when [the wise men] were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” (Matt. 2:13.)

In 1773 Mengs was granted the privilege of hanging his portrait in the Florence gallery of artists’ portraits founded by Giorgio Vasari in the mid-16th century. Allegedly, he chose the spot himself: having been celebrated as “the new Raphael”, he promptly placed his portrait beneath the one of the great Italian painter. In 1745 Mengs had become Saxon court painter in Dresden but spent a great deal of his time in Rome. There, along with Winckelmann, he became one of the founders of Classicism and in the view of his admirers helped to supersede the decadent Baroque. In 1773/74 he returned to Madrid, where he had been appointed court painter to Charles III in 1760. The present painting depicting Joseph’s dream was probably created during Mengs’s Florentine period and came directly into the possession of the grand duke Pietro Leopoldo. In Rome Mengs had renewed his study of the works of Michelangelo, and Joseph’s posture is clearly adopted from the master’s Jerome in the Sistine Chapel.

 The Dream of St. Joseph Read more here

Escape By Night, by Rose Datoc Dall, depicts the nighttime flight into Egypt of Joseph, Mary & the Boy Jesus, as recounted in the New Testament. 

The Holy family fled into Egypt after Joseph was warned in a dream by an angel that King Herod sought the life of the Boy Savior (Matthew 2: 13-15).

Prints can be purchased here

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.”

Matthew 1:20

St. Joseph never saw an angel the way Mary did, clear as day, with her waking eyes. He never saw the burning bush or heard the thunderous voice of God, “I am that I am.” St. Joseph only heard God in the quietest of ways. He dreamed of angels. He heard God while he slept. 

There are “four dreams” of St. Joseph: In the first he learns the miraculous nature of Mary’s pregnancy and is told ‘not to be afraid’ to take her as his wife. In the second, he is warned to leave Bethlehem and flee to Egypt. While in Egypt, he has a third dream where he learns that it is safe to return to Israel. Finally, he dreams a fourth dream: he is again warned of danger and travels to Galilee instead of back to Judea...read more here