5. Chapelle de saint Joseph
Vidéo guide
5. St Joseph’s Chapel
The Chapel of Saint Joseph, located at the foot of the epistle nave, was sponsored by the confraternity of carpenters, which included various guilds such as sculptors, carpenters, masons, wheelwrights and cutlers. In 1625, the chapter of Santa Maria granted permission to this guild to build the chapel. In 1633 an altarpiece was installed, which was replaced in the 18th century by the current one, and a few years later the impressive doorway was built.
The doorway sits on two pedestals made of alabaster from Fuentes de Jiloca, black stone from Calatorao and jasper from Ricla, materials that bear the arms of the brotherhood. On each pedestal, pairs of angels support Solomonic columns with shafts decorated with vine leaf branches and grapes, which in turn support an entablature that generates a tympanum-like space at the apex of the access arch. This space is decorated with a grisaille mural painting showing two angels holding a phylactery with the text: «A DEVOCIÓN DE SAN JOSÉ FIRMADO RAFAEL BLASCO PINTOR, AÑO – 1864» (TO THE DEVOTION OF SAINT JOSEPH SIGNED RAFAEL BLASCO PINTOR, YEAR – 1864). Between the angels, an oval cartouche surrounded by flowers displays various carpenter’s tools and the flowering rod of Saint Joseph, the nourishing father of Christ.
Rafael Blasco painted not only the façade but also the interior of the chapel. On the pendentives and in the blind dome, the angels depicted carry carpenter’s tools, reflecting the guild’s devotion to its patron saint. The chapel is presided over by a Rococo altarpiece in gilded and polychrome wood, which is divided into a bench, a central section flanked by two Corinthian columns and an attic. In the central body, framed by curtains gathered like a curtain, a panel in relief shows a dying Saint Joseph lying on a bed, in the company of Jesus and the Virgin Mary who, wiping away her tears, holds her husband’s hand. At the foot of the bed, an angel sweetens St Joseph’s passage with a cup of chocolate and a bilbilitano sponge cake, and in the foreground are carpenter’s tools, which are also depicted on the bench of the altarpiece and on the door that gave access to the chapel’s former sacristy.
At the sides of the central body, in rounded bulk, are the figures of Saint Anne and Saint Sebastian. In the attic, God the Father blessing is surrounded by clouds, materialised rays of light, cherubim heads and two angels carrying Saint Joseph’s rod and a palm.
