Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Spanish, 1746 - 1828The Death of Saint Joseph, 1787
On view
Oil on canvas
Dimensions21 7/16 × 16 3/16 in.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William L. Richards through the Viola E. Bray Charitable Trust Fund, 1967.19
Religious subjects occupy a fairly large proportion of Francisco Goya’s work. The subject of this painting, Jesus at the deathbed of his father Joseph, is rarely shown in the history of art, but the death of a father in the presence of his wife and son is a tremendously affecting subject. Goya seems to have given great thought to the staging of this painting. During its production, he bought large swaths of cloth and draped them over things in his studio in order to explore the simple, heavy folds that give this image such sculptural force. He also drew inspiration from earlier Spanish painters, looking to El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos, 1541–1614) for the lighting technique and to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682) for the overall suave texture of the canvas.
