RELIGIOUS ART BY THE OLD MASTER PAINTERS - Paintings from the Bible Explained! The Dream of Joseph

Circle of Dario Varotari (Verona 1539-1596 Padua)

The Dream of Joseph with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John the Baptist 

oil on canvas

85.8 x 119.7cm (33 3/4 x 47 1/8in).

Genesis 37 - Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,  “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

Elizabeth, also spelled Elisabeth, was the mother of John the Baptist and the wife of Zacharias/Zachary, according to the Gospel of Luke.

Dario Varotari the Elder (c. 1539–1596) was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect of the Renaissance. Born in Verona, he was descended from a Strasburg or Augsburg family of the name of 'Weyrotter.' He was a pupil of Paolo Veronese, and an imitator of Titian. He was mainly active in Padua, where he painted for the church of Sant' Elidio. Dario Varotari the Younger was also an artist, and his grandson by the well known Paduan painter Alessandro Varotari.