WEYDEN, Rogier van der
(b. 1400, Tournai, d. 1464, Bruxelles)

St Joseph

c. 1445
Oil on oak panel, 21 x 18,3 cm
Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon

This fragment was sawn out of the same large altarpiece as the Mary Magdalene in the National Gallery, London. The aged Joseph stood behind the Magdalene; the lower part of his body can still be seen in the fragment. The exterior of the building in which the scene took place was richly ornamented with Gothic decoration, like a church.