Laudato's signature or can be grouped stylistically with
the signed works.^9 Donatone also asserted that the Getty
Saint Joseph was produced in the Real Fabbrica, Naples,
and could be identified with a ceramic group represent
ing Saint Joseph with the Christ Child once in the
Charlesworth collection, Naples, exhibited in the
Esposizione Nazionale di Belle Arti held in Naples in
1877, and sold in Rome in 1901.^10 Recently he proposed
a date for the piece after 1794.^11
Donatone, who is currently reconstructing Laudato's
oeuvre, sees him as a sculptor and ceramist working in
the circle of Sanmartino.^12 His conclusions derive from
stylistic analysis of Laudator signed works,- the Getty
group's dependence on a statue by Sanmartino,- and the
fact that another piece in terraglia signed by Laudato is
based on a drawing by Sanmartino for a silver group of
Tobias and the Angel (executed by the silversmiths
Giuseppe and Gennaro Del Giudice and completed in
1797 , after Sanmartino's death), in the chapel of the
Treasury of San Gennaro in Naples.^13 The terraglia
Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, signed
and dated 1794 by Laudato in the British Museum
(fig. 4 IF), also derives from Sanmartino's Taranto Saint
Joseph, probably known to Laudato from a terra-cotta
model by the master.^14
In 1790 the archbishop of Taranto, the Neapolitan
noble Giuseppe Capecelatro, commissioned the marble
statue of Saint Joseph (fig. 41E) from Sanmartino for his
seat at Taranto cathedral.^15 Sanmartino produced a terra
cotta model for the sculpture, which was seen and
approved by Capecelatro before November 1790.^16 Thus
Laudato could have known the Sanmartino model as
early as 1790 and certainly knew it by 1791, the date of
his terra-cotta Madonna and Child, which is clearly
based on the Taranto composition. This also provides a
likely terminus post quern for the Getty Saint Joseph.
The Getty piece employs a formula typical for im
ages of the standing Madonna and Child but substitutes
Saint Joseph for the Virgin. This manner of presenting
Saint Joseph became popular in the seventeenth century
and is a clear indication of the development of the cult ofthe saint.^17 Joseph was revered for his privileged role as
husband of Mary, stepfather of Christ, and protector of
the Holy Family. His intimate relationship with Christ
was seen as a sign of his holiness, and Joseph came to be
seen as a protector of the faithful as he had been protec
tor of Jesus. The Getty ceramic stresses Joseph's hand
some vigor, as Sanmartino did in his Taranto sculpture.
There the image conveyed the idea that Joseph would act
as protector of his namesake, Archbishop Giuseppe
Capecelatro, and that the saint and, in turn, the arch
bishop would act as protectors of Taranto's faithful.
Given the personal resonance of the Taranto commis
sion, one might consider the possibility that Capecelatro
also commissioned the ceramic piece as a private record
of the marble sculpture.^18
The ceramic version differs from the marble (and
presumably from the model for the statue) in ways that
indicate that it was reworked specifically for production
in the new medium, taking into account the possibilities
offered by polychromy, the lighter material, smaller
scale, and private function of the group as a devotional
object. For example, the figure of Christ is brought closer
to Joseph, his right leg bent sharply and his left foot
hanging free, whereas in the heavier marble he presses
his left foot into the rocky support while fully extending
his right leg. Above all, the polychromy enhances that
composition, the fantastic colors acting as a foil for the
flesh tones. The fine modeling of the forms and the cre
ative reworking of the model, in technical and expressive
terms, encourage seeing the piece as an independent
work of sculpture in its own right.^19 Perhaps Sanmartino
played a direct role in its creation, but surely it was
Laudato who fully understood and exploited the possi
bilities of the ceramic medium.
WITH MARIETTA CAMBARERISaint Joseph with the Christ Child 243