Marco Tullio Montagna

Montagna drafted this compositional study for one wall of his fresco cycle depicting the life of St. Joseph, which he executed for the Oratory of S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami in Rome between 1631 and 1637. In the tradition of Renaissance painters such as Michelangelo, Montagna used illusory architectural elements to order the narrative sequence of his composition, which proceeded counterclockwise around the oratory. The narrative vignettes should thus be read from right to left: the Annunciation and Adoration of the Shepherds at right, and Joseph’s Dream coupled with the Flight into Egypt at left.