New! Joseph and Jesus (detail from The Holy Family with a Little Bird by Murillo) – Catholic Art Print – Archival Quality

We've selected a detail from the Murillo painting, "The Holy Family with a Little Bird" because we like the focus on Jesus and Joseph, and how comfortable and sweet they seem to be together. So many depictions of the two are so formal, without much emotion, but this one is of the rarer kind where Joseph is loving and fatherly, and Jesus is obviously quite comfortable in the arms of his foster-father.

The original setting of the painting is a little odd. Jesus is holding a bird in his hand, teasing a little white dog in front of him. We're not scholar enough to offer any researched version of what is going on with that, but could it be that he has pulled the bird, which is often a symbol for a soul, away from one who would cause its ruin? Mary is to the left in the picture smiling sweetly at the scene but otherwise not involved with it. The emotional heart of the picture is father and son, and so that's why we offer it to you that way.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish painter born in 1617 in Seville. He was trained in the workshop of Juan del Castillo, a well-known painter. Murillo spent much of his career doing commissions for local religious groups of Seville, where he lived all his life. He painted mostly using the sfumato technique, which means blending colors so there are not sharp lines in the painting. In addition to his religious paintings, Murillo also painted genre scenes for Dutch and Flemish merchants in Seville. When he died in 1682, he was working on a series of paintings for the Capuchins of Cadiz. Murillo has remained one of the most popular painters ever. (source: https://www.nga.gov)

** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a blank border around the image. Approximately 0.5" wide for 5x7, 1.3" for 8.5x11, 1.6" for 11x14, and 1.75" for 13x17 and 16x20. For the two poster sizes, 18x24 and 24x36, we use 0.5" borders. We do this because the ratio of the rectangle of the art almost never matches the rectangle of the paper, and if it did happen to match one size, it would not match the others. Most fine art printers do this because otherwise they’d have to crop the art or warp it to make it fit the paper. The border looks good. It gives the picture a faux matted appearance.

There is almost always a little more border either on the left-right sides, or the top-bottom, depending on whether the ratio of the art is wider or taller than the paper.

We make Archival Quality fine art prints:

– Acid-free paper

– Archival pigments

– Cardboard backer for sizes 11x14 and less.

– Above story of the art

– Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal-clear bag.

– Rated to last 200+ years without fading if kept dry and out of the direct sun.

Thanks for your interest!

+JMJ+

Sue & John

Lincoln, Nebraska

“In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art.”

~ Pope St. John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and any image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson – CatholicArtAndJewelry.com