History of Boredom: St. Joseph's Ennui in the Nativity?

JF Ptak Science Books  Post 809   Blog Bookstore

This woodcut, the work of the semi-anonymous "Italian Monogrammist" and printed around 1510, shows the newly arrived Christ in the arms of his mother, taking the airs outside the stable. What is unusual to me here is the attitude of St. Joseph, who adopts a dictionary-ready pose of nonchalance:  he is leaning against a tree, his left arm propped up at the elbow on a tree limb, his feet crossed at the ankles, with a look of I-don't-know-what on his face. 

He is definitely not of the standard Josephs that one sees in this scene.Perhaps he is communicating a certain type of tiredness, but I doubt it. The man is staring off into space, not looking at wife and baby, not looking at the many visitors coming through the tunnel in the mountain and excitedly rounding the nearby turn in the road, not looking at anything that we can see.  He's not seeing the invisible stuff either:  not the praying angels and not the sun-ray daggers.He's not tired, not excited about the baby and wife, not excited about the visitors, and in a pose of resident uncaring relaxation--boredom might be the easiest and best explanation, except, well, it doesn't make for a good story. 

Comments

[mahendra singh]

I suspect he's one of those young men that one sees on Italian streets, then and now, loafing about with an insouciant nonchalance, perfectly dressed and coiffed, usually springing into action only when a good-looking woman heaves into view … or he's simply bored at being stuck in that particular woodcut.

BTW, that tree on the left is rendered pretty cool, pollard willow perhaps?

[Jeff]

He's still trying to figure out if he's the father.

[Leslie]

How about this. I think he could be thinking of the eventual crucifixion of the babe. His feet are crossed and in a position that the feet of Christ are in in artwork that show Christ hanging on the cross. Also, look at the branch of the tree his arm is on. It's at a 90 degree angle---like a cross which was made from wood that Christ hung on. It's kind of an odd branch to be just sticking out like that for no reason. Also, his back is against the tree--just like is depicted when Christ is on the cross. The other thing is with Joseph's robes. The way they are gathered and layered are like the cloth that in artist's renditions are covering Christ's private parts as he hangs on the cross. So I think he's gazing off into the future thinking about the baby's future. Oh, one more thing. His right hand seems to be under all the fabric, too. Not sure what to make of that. There's a scripture something about the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing--not sure how that ties in. Anyway, there are my thoughts.

[mahendra singh]

just realized it's an engraving, well, that changes everything … Joseph is waiting for the invention of etching, the slacker

[John Ptak]

Leslie: good show! I didn't see this but now that I put your eyes on I can see the similarities. What do you reckon his face expression to be?

[John Ptak]

Jeff: well, there *is* that whole element to think about. Even if Joseph was 99% certain that the baby his wife gave birth to was god's, there is still that nagging 1%. Maybe the artist caught Joseph in his one percent phase.

[John Ptak]

Mahendra: Joseph's pose does look moderno-cosmo-contempo, though not new yorkish. Definitely euro-f;avored. There's no doubt about it for me: Joseph's pose just doesn't belong in this picture at this time.

[John Ptak]

Leslie! Did you notice the salamander crawling up the base of the tree? Symbol of rebirth/regeneration? Long ago people thought the salamander to be other-earthly because it seemed to be born of fire: people would throw a log on a fire or sumpin', and a salamander would come crawling out from its hiding place. And instead of it being a crawly in a dark spot it became something whose beginnings were the flame. The salamander got a very bad name there in SLC in the early '80's I remember...

[Leslie]

John! I think that Joseph's expression is one of deep contemplation---this innocent babe will grow up to be hated and scorned, spat upon, and treated unfairly plus a whole lot more--this baby that he would raise as his own son, who he would undoubtedly grow to love. I think he was thinking about what was to come in the child's life. I think he was thinking about the responsibility he had been given.