In Jacopo Bassano’s Nativity with Shepherds and Saints Victor and Corona altarpiece of 1568 for San Giuseppe in Bassano del Grappa (now Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa), Joseph is depicted nodding off in the lower left corner of the composition. Or is he? In one of the many subtle and erudite analyses in this magnificent book, Carolyn Wilson reconsiders the meaning of the sleeping Joseph in Bassano’s painting and, by extension, in Renaissance iconography in general. Rather than showing him as doddering or decrepit, Joseph’s recumbent pose is interpreted as indicating his reception of divine messages in dreams, signaling both his role as protector of Mary (Ecclesia) and his potency as intercessor. Deftly weaving these functions into a larger discussion of Joseph’s cult and iconography, Wilson offers an important reconsideration of the message intended by the sleeping Joseph and challenges us to rethink many commonplace assumptions that dismiss the significance (or even existence) of a pre-Tridentine Josephine cult. Using numerous pictorial examples, cogent documentary evidence, and careful visual and textual analysis, Wilson presents a convincing, refreshing, and highly stimulating reassessment of Joseph’s cult and its manifestations in Italian art during the quattrocento and cinquecento.

St. Joseph in Italian Renaissance Society and Art: New Directions and Interpretations is a magisterial work—a rich, thickly woven text, dense with information and insight—that constitutes an invaluable contribution to the scholarship on the pre-Tridentine cult of Saint Joseph in theology, art, and culture in Italy. The author details the extent of Josephine devotion, prompting a reassessment of the development and importance of his cult in fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century Italy (and, by extension, northern Europe). The commonly repeated notion of Joseph as sleeping, bungling, or comic is shown to be an inaccurate and inadequate assessment of the image of him that was popularized and understood in the period under consideration. Wilson notes that Joseph needs to be reconsidered “as a figure of cult rather than as a figure in narrative” (77). She also stresses his role as defender and protector of the Church (Mary) and as civic patron, his standing as the link between the Old and New Testaments, and his place in prophetic tradition. By investigating liturgical references to Joseph, Wilson sheds light on Josephine significance in many important altarpieces by artists such as Giovanni Bellini, Savoldo, Jacopo Bassano, Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Pontormo, Dosso Dossi, and Master Bertram.

Despite its copious examples, this volume is not intended as a comprehensive overview, but rather as a presentation and elucidation of “certain of the observations and arguments that [the author] has discussed or will develop more fully elsewhere” (xx). Therefore, Wilson’s greatest contribution is not so much the introduction of new material (though there is plenty of that), but is instead her appraisal of the historiographic and art-historical significance of the rich and persuasive material that she amasses here. She writes:

Time and again in the literature of Renaissance art history, presentation even of works of art documented as linked with Joseph’s cult have concluded with a sort of standard apologia noting that the cult did not yet “really” exist, and time and again, depictions of the elderly Joseph that are in no way overtly derogatory or humorous are nevertheless virtually automatically claimed by writers to characterize the saint as feeble or ridiculous. (11)

In light of Wilson’s abundant and lucidly articulated evidence of the vitality and nature of Joseph’s cult, such claims by others appear feeble themselves. She answers them by questioning the logic behind those assumptions:

Why would a patron pay for St. Joseph to be included at all, in a non-narrative (or supra-narrative and emblematic) devotional work of art, if only to poke fun at him? And why should the same parental acts of caring be construed as demeaning in pictures from pre-Tridentine Germany or the Netherlands but perceived as delightful and creative in Italian Cinquecento paintings? (86)

These and other well-considered queries support Wilson’s laudable goal of bringing the examination of these works of art back into their cultic context. This emphasis is methodologically sound and provides a model for subsequent scholarly emulation.

The presentation of the material in the book is logical and effectively organized. Wilson first establishes the parameters of the cult, then examines altarpieces as manifestations of it, and finally develops a series of questions and larger conclusions. In Part 1, “New Directions: Re-Examining and Re-Evaluating the Pre-Tridentine Cult of St. Joseph,” she investigates Joseph’s pre-Tridentine cult, revealing an active devotion to the saint. Part 2, “New Interpretations: Looking at the St. Joseph Altarpiece and Seeing St. Joseph as a Figure of Cult,” the most extensive portion of the book, looks at an impressive array of altarpieces related to the cult. Rather than attempting a chronological overview, Wilson arranges the works by theme. This method augments the discussion of their Josephine significance, focusing on the Betrothal of the Virgin (here as the “Marriage of the Glorious Father St. Joseph and the most Blessed Virgin Mother of God Mary”), the Nativity, the Flight into Egypt/Rest on the Flight, and non-narrative altarpieces of Joseph. Part 3, “Conclusions: The Cult of St. Joseph and the ‘Reading’ of Christian Art in Renaissance Italy,” seeks to articulate the ramifications of these findings and outlines avenues for continued research. The emphasis on cultic aspects in interpreting the popularity of some paintings, such as those by Savoldo, is significant in redirecting focus toward the importance of cult practice over artistic legacy, countering the tendency of many art historians to focus exclusively on the authorial and artistic values of an image.

Wilson examines the importance of Joseph as protector of Christ and Mary, a role that was discussed already by Bernard of Clairvaux and Rupert of Deutz in the twelfth century and elaborated upon further in subsequent centuries. Joseph’s importance as protector is reinforced by martyrologies, the veneration of relics, increasing local celebration of his feasts, and the momentum for establishing a universal feast of Joseph, endorsed by Pope Sixtus IV in 1479. The first theological text devoted solely to Joseph—Isidoro Isolano’s Summa de donis Sancti Joseph of 1522—characterizes the saint as a champion of the Church Militant and asserts his efficacy as intercessor. Wilson posits that:

Understanding of the theology of Joseph germane to the period, moreover, and recognition of the intensity of St. Joseph’s significance at this time to many communities and individuals for invocation for protection from plague and invasion or attack, as well as investigation of the history of his cult at numerous specific sites, are all surely prerequisite to the interpretation of St. Joseph in Italian Renaissance art. (20)

With this incontestable assertion, Wilson contends that we must first fully understand the cult—its dynamics and manifestations—before we endeavor to read its attendant images.

The Chapel of San José in Toledo, Spain, founded in 1569, is often cited as the earliest sanctuary dedicated to Joseph. Wilson reveals that this is far from true, as evidenced by the (now demolished) church of St. Joseph in Belluno, founded on June 16, 1507 (to say nothing of the twelfth-century Benedictine church of San Giuseppe di Borgo Galliera in Bologna). Her analysis and reassessment of various early-sixteenth-century altarpieces is compelling and insightful. Wilson also probes into long-held assumptions about a great many important images of Renaissance art, including the significance of epithets given to works such as Andrea del Sarto’s Madonna del Sacco and Correggio’s Madonna della Scodella. She notes the devotional meaning of items such as the sack and the porringer as references to Joseph’s role as protector of the church and as nutritor Domini. Careful attention is paid to chronological concordances of the dates of secular events and the establishment of churches, chapels, and confraternities with Joseph as their titulus. Furthermore, scrutiny of the dates when sanctuaries and altarpieces were planned (rather than completed) allows Wilson to illuminate the Josephine impetus to their creation. For example, Savoldo’s Saint Joseph altarpiece for San Barnaba in Brescia was planned in 1513 in the aftermath of local calamities (an outbreak of plague in 1512, followed by foreign military incursions), but it was not commissioned until the 1530s and only completed ca. 1540. As the author convincingly argues, Joseph’s potency as a civic protector appears to have been the reason for the altarpiece’s conception and eventual execution. Though the painting depicts the Nativity, we must now consider Joseph’s role as central, rather than ancillary. Perhaps it is this well-documented and well-reasoned challenge to questionable assumptions of past scholarship that constitutes this book’s most significant contribution. As a result, we see these paintings in a new light—the light in which they were originally viewed and understood.

What is so refreshing about this book is its self-conscious participation in an ongoing scholarly dialogue, weaving past, present, and future academic pursuits into the fabric of its discourse. Wilson’s volume does not present itself as the final word on the topic, but rather as a combination of new scholarship, methodological reassessment, and state-of-the-research analysis, providing both a model and a launching point for additional work. As such, it should be assured of a central and lasting place in the study of the cult of Saint Joseph and its visual manifestations in the Italian Renaissance. St. Joseph in Italian Renaissance Society and Art is essential reading for anyone interested in Renaissance art (particularly of the cinquecento) and in the visual manifestations of saints’ cults.