ROMAN, EARLY VIII CENTURY

SAINT JOSEPH

Fragment of a composition entitled The Nativity from the Oratory of John VII erected in 705-707 on the north-west side of the old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In 1609 the building was demolished in connection with the erection of the new St. Peter's Cathedral. The fragment in the Pushkin Museum appeared in the collection of Cardinal Benedetto Justiniani, who supervised the demolition of the old basilica.

Provenance: in the Justiniani collection in Rome until the mid-19th century; acquired in 1863 from the antiquarian Bonico in Rome by P.I.Sebastyanov, who donated it to the Rumyantsev Museum in Moscow; transferred to the State Historical Museum in 1924; in the Pushkin Museum since 1924.