Title

The betrothal of Our Lady to St. Joseph

Pereda y Salgado, Antonio de (Valladolid, 1611 - Madrid, 1678)

Generic classification

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Date

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Inventory Number in Current Collection

Inscriptions / Marks

Bosarte saw the work in its original location, and there he noted: "On the first step of the temple, the author's signature can be read in well-painted and raised letters: Antonio Pereda fecit, year 1640." (Bosarte, 1804, p. 141).

Object history

The main altar of the convent of San José of the Capuchin Fathers of Valladolid, now disappeared, consisted of a simple molding that housed a single large painting with an iconographic theme closely linked to the dedication of the temple: The betrothal of the Virgin to Saint Joseph. The commission for this altar was arranged in Madrid in 1639, between the master Pereda and the patron of the convent, the alderman Juan de Zamora Cabreros. According to the documentation compiled by Fernández del Hoyo, the latter undertook to "make and place at his own expense in all perfection and as he saw fit, a canvas painting of the glorious patriarch St. Joseph with its shining frame and with the ornamentation required to be placed on the main altar of the said church of the convent" (Fernández del Hoyo, 1998, p. 623).

It is a canvas that has enjoyed special appreciation since its execution, Bosarte in 1804 referred to this work as the best painting that Pereda had created in his career: "Being Pereda a native of Valladolid, there is little that can be seen here by his hand. I have not been able to find more than one of his paintings; but this one is more than twenty-six feet high, and forms the main altar of the church of the Capuchins in the Campo Grande. Its subject matter is the Desposorios de la Vírgen [...] I will believe that this is his main work, both because he did it in his best time, and because of the effort he took in its composition and execution, the beauty and sanctity of the heads, the well-conducted story, the tone and general chord of the painting, and its beautiful ink. It is not surprising that he did the rest for the sake of his country" (Bosarte, 1804, pp. 141-142).

The eventful history that ended up leading to its departure from Spain, and its current conservation in the Parisian temple of Saint Sulpice, began in 1810, during the invasion of Napoleon's troops. The painting was plundered by the artillery general of the French army Jean-Baptiste Eblé (1758-1812), who was under the command of Marshal André Masséna. Once the painting was transferred to Paris, after the general's death, his widow donated it in 1843 to the temple of Saint Sulpice, in whose sacristy it was installed (Urrea y Valdivieso, 2022, p. 188).

Fernández del Hoyo collected various descriptions of the disappeared convent of San José de Padres Capuchinos, in which singular attention was paid to this painting. This is the case, for example, of Matías Sangrador, in his Historia de Valladolid: "The temple of the Capuchins was, like all those of this order, of small dimensions; and some paintings of considerable merit were preserved in it. The main one was a painting of more than twenty-six feet in height that occupied a large part of the main altarpiece, whose subject was the Desposorios de Nuestra Señora, the work of the distinguished Valladolid painter D. Antonio de Pereda...". (Sangrador, 1851-1854, p. 294, Fernández del Hoyo, 1998, pp. 632-634).

The convent of San José was demolished in 1860, as described by González García-Valladolid: "Upon the suppression of the Communities in 1841, the convent, church and orchard became the property of the City Council, who dedicated the latter to a nursery. In 1856 it was agreed to cede it to the company of the Northern Railroad, so that the station could be installed on its lands, which was done in 1857, and in 1860 the church and the convent were demolished" (García-Valladolid, 1922, p. 129, Fernández del Hoyo, 1998, pp. 637-638).

Description

The upper half of the composition is occupied by the representation of the celestial glory presided over by God the Father, who marks the axis of symmetry of the canvas. Seated on his throne, he defines a perfect vertical line followed by the presence of the Holy Spirit who descends in order to present the scene that takes place in the earthly realm: the betrothal of the Virgin and St. Joseph. It is precisely the meeting of hands between the bride and groom that seals this vertical line, with great symbolic weight because it is the family bond that will welcome the Son of God. In this case, Saint Joseph is given a singular protagonism; his presence at the right hand of the officiant, carrying his flowered rod, a dimension typical of the iconography of the Counter-Reformation, and the fact that he is the titular saint of the convent to which this work was destined. The figure with his back turned at the bottom contributes effectively to the spatial construction; he is practically out of the frame, and introduces the viewer into the scene. Both the composition and the light treatment are reminiscent of Italian models, which Pereda assimilated through his contact with court collections.

Locations

• 1640 - 1810

  convent

  Convent of Saint Joseph of the Capuchin Fathers (Disappeared), Valladolid (Spain)

• 1810 - 1843

  plunder

  Jean-Baptiste Eblé, Paris (France)

• 1843 - present

  church

  Saint Sulpice Church, Paris (France)