Danuta Waberska’s “St Joseph with Young Jesus”. A study in the iconology and aesthetics of reception

Abstract

The article proposes a multidimensional interpretation of Danuta Waberska’s altarpiece St Joseph with Young Jesus at the Bernardine Church in Poznań. Firstly, it analyzes the connection between the image and the biblical story; questions are asked about the status of St Joseph as the guardian of the Son of God and the extent of Christ’s knowledge of his future fate on earth. Secondly, the painting is placed in the context of tradition, in which the childhood of Jesus has come to be represented with recourse to a certain symbolic code (Pre-Raphaelites). Thirdly, the work is examined in strict connection with the spatial context of its display (the structure of the altar, the relations between the altar and the broader space of the church, the position of the viewer). The conclusion is that the deep semantics of the painting result from the reference of its iconography to the mystery of the Eucharist.