Saint Joseph's Dream

‘Saint Joseph’s Dream’ (El sueño de San José) is a masterpiece by the Spanish Neoclassical painter Vicente López Portaña (1772–1850) depicting an important biblical scene in a wonderful early oil sketch (boceto). The sketch illustrated the event in the Gospel of Matthew, when the angel appeared to Saint Joseph and told him that the Virgin Mary was pregnant with the Son of God in a vision. The dynamic composition of López Portaña is created around a strong diagonal axis, which divides the terrestrial from the celestial side. Saint Joseph, peacefully sleeping on a wooden bench with his head resting comfortably on his hand, seems to be in a deep, receptive sleep, his figure clad in the blue and white robes typical of his role as a shepherd. He carries his traditional “flowering staff”, which is covered by dark and heavy drapery, anchoring the bottom plane. The sketch has “the celestial messenger”, a white, winged, radiant angel with a swirling shape, landing on a cloud in the upper left corner. The angel is bathed in a golden supernatural light and points towards Saint Joseph to unite heaven and earth and to bring God’s decree. This sketch refers to the period when López Portaña was still a brilliant young student at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos in Valencia, under the influence of the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid and during a change of style from luminism of the Rococo/Baroque style to academic Neoclassicism. This early sketch is an example of his early work style, which he was known for and is characterized by the use of quick brushwork, as opposed to the late portraits of his mature style, such as his famous portrait of Francisco de Goya and his official portraits of Ferdinand VII. The broad and confident treatment of the clouds and direction of the light shows his spatial planning and speed of execution. It reveals how López Portaña painstakingly planned his elaborate religious compositions before rendering them on larger altar panels.