Feast of St. Joseph

 

St. Joseph is the Patron of the Universal Church, and the patron saint of a happy death. Pretty cheery, huh? St. Joseph does not appear in the Gospels after Jesus turned 12 - during Christ's public life, at his death, nor at the resurrection. It is therefore assumed he died before all those events, which means he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Can't do better than that...

The painting is by the Spaniard, Francisco de Herrera and was painted in 1645. It is "representative of the transition from Mannerism to Baroque". Right.