Viceroyalty school; end of the XVII century.

Viceroyalty school; late seventeenth century.
"The death of St. Joseph".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents inscription in the lower area.
Measurements: 137 x 95 cm.
The scene represents the transit of Saint Joseph assisted by Christ and the Virgin Mary, a theme of deep devotional load that acquired special relevance in the Counter-Reformation spirituality, presenting him as a model of "good death". The work is inscribed in a historical moment in which the cult of St. Joseph experienced a notable impulse in the American territories of the Hispanic monarchy. After his proclamation as patron of the universal Church in the 17th century and the growing patronage of religious orders, especially the Carmelites and Franciscans, his figure became central in the American territories.
The work reveals characteristics typical of the late Viceroyalty Baroque: strong theatricality, intense affective expressiveness and a saturated chromatism that privileges deep reds and dark tones as dramatic background. The treatment of the faces, with soft features and almond-shaped eyes, evidences a formal language that combines the inheritance of tenebrist naturalism with idealized conventions. The lighting focuses on the main bodies, generating a contrast that intensifies the intimate atmosphere of the episode. The space lacks a rigorous perspective; instead, it is organized in superimposed planes, a frequent resource in viceregal workshops where priority was given to narrative clarity and devotional efficacy rather than academic spatial illusion.
Among the singularities of the piece is the emotional intensification of the whole: the physical proximity between Christ and St. Joseph, the contained but eloquent gesture of the Virgin, and the multiplication of angels that occupy the upper space generate a densely populated, almost visionary composition that dilutes the border between the earthly and the heavenly realm. Likewise, the coexistence of an affective realism in the main characters with an ornamental stylization in the secondary elements, such as the delicate floral and textile motifs, reflects the aesthetic synthesis characteristic of viceregal art, where European tradition and local sensibility converge in a visual rhetoric of strong devotional impact.