Rosemary Drage Hale has also written on representations of Joseph. You might
look at her essay entitled (I think) "Joseph as Mother" in the Medieval
Mothering collection published by Garland. This essay describes some very
interesting depictions of Joseph in which he "takes over" traditional
iconography of Mary.
Nancy Warren
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>Chara Armon wrote:
>
>>Images of Joseph are too complex to allow us to say, for example, that
>he was derided in the twelfth century
>
>
>Speaking purely for myself, i have to say that i've never thought that
>Gislebertus (a.k.a. "Whatsisname") of Autun's characterisation of Joseph,
>from the first time i saw his Nativitiy capital --now detached--
>in 1967 in that upper room of the cathedral, was derisive; though it was
>certainly perceptive.
>
>Stuck off to the side there, away from the real action, with his chin in his
>hand, blank expression on his face, he seemed to me to be... well, just
>exquisitely irrelevant, the Ultimate traditional father at a birth.
>
>but, then, ole "Gilbert," while not at all a polished artist, had an
>unparallédly acute, "peasant's" sense for the anecdotally sublime --a
>proto-avatar of Breughel (the elder) and, perhaps, in another sense, of
>Chardin or the early van Gogh.
>
>>I believe there are several art historians who are studying images of
Joseph,
>among them Pamela Sheingorn.
>
>i've not had the pleasure/advantage of reading Professor Sheingorn, whose
>opinions on such matters would, i'm sure, be much more helpful, and certainly
>less subjective.
>
>best to all from here,
>
>christopher
>
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