IMAGES OF JESUS WITH HIS FAMILY

 John Everett Millais, 'Christ in the House of his Parents', 1849-50

This 19th century English painting (above) makes an interesting contrast with the photograph of Hebron Woman and Child.

Millais' painting idealizes the simple life of a carpenter/craftsman and his family.

It shows Joseph as an industrious worker, Mary as a mother who kneels reverently before her son, and Jesus as a russet-haired, rather spindly boy who extends his cheek for his mother's kiss.

The whole picture fits nicely into the 19th century ideal of a perfect family - hard-working father, submissive mother, obedient child.

Oddly enough, it was attacked as blasphemous when first exhibited. The figures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were seen as insultingly 'ordinary'.

Some other paintings of Jesus and his family at Nazareth:

St Joseph the Carpenter, George de la Tour

Father and Son, by Corbert Gauthier

The Carpenter's Shop, Edward Stott

St Joseph with the Infant Jesus, Guido Reni

The Youth of Our Lord, John Herbert 

'The Family', John Dickson Batten