Enthroned St. Joseph Receiving Vatican Maquette

This late 19th-century Eastern European devotional print depicts St. Joseph seated on a golden throne receiving an architectural maquette or miniaturized model of the Vatican symbolizing The Church from two kneeling angels. Standing on St. Joseph’s knee is the Christ Child as a toddler. The Christ Child raises his right hand in blessing and holds a spray of lilies symbolizing purity in his left. St. Joseph’s hands encircle the toddler protectively as a visual metaphor for his role as protector of The Church. + St. Joseph is garbed in a blue-violet robe shaded in reddish-purple and a brown mantle highlighted in shades of yellow-orange; the Christ Child, a white tunic with yellow trim; and the angels, in complementary red and green dalmatics. + Principal Feast of St. Joseph: March 19; Feast of St. Joseph the Worker: May 1 + Image Credit (M 037): Antique image of Saint Joseph [Svatý-Josef], originally printed in chromolithography by Koppe Bellmann, Prague, Czechoslovakia (now The Czech Republic), late 19th century, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera.