St. Joseph’s Dream

Francesco Solimena

Francesco Solimena (1657 – 1747) was an Italian painter based in Naples. He was one of the most accomplished painters of his era and served as the head of the Neopalitan school of painting in the early 1700s. In St. Joseph’s Dream, the angel appears to St. Joseph in a dream after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and tells him to flee with the Holy Family to Egypt to escape the sword of Herod. This painting is housed in the Louvre in Paris.

Meditation: Matthew 2:13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."