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Remember, genre artists aren't concerned with what others consider "beautiful." We might say they tell it like it is. That's certainly the case here, isn't it? The Holy Family in the Workshop. This holy family is dressed as if living in 19th century Europe, not Palestine 2000 years ago. Mary is a lovely young mother. Perhaps as a concession to tradition, the artist has dressed her in blue. She wears a tied scarf or shawl around her neck and shoulders. We might imagine she has brought the barefoot toddler out to the shed to see Joseph.
This is a poor family. Joseph's tools are limited and primitive. He is using an ax to plane a piece of wood. Mary's chair doesn't look very stable. There's laundry hanging on a line along the walls. Mary isn't sewing or sitting at a spinning wheel but, like mothers around the world, she is teaching and delighting in her little one who is learning to walk. But is there a sense of premonition in Mary's expression?
One fascinating detail is the tall, delicate wild flower that's grown in through the window or the space between the wall-planks on the left side of the painting. Renaissance painters routinely added white lilies to signify Mary's chastity. Fritz von Uhde has chosen a native flower instead. Jesus will later teach us in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the clean of heart."
Grow me up, Mary,
to be a real disciple,
a real Christ-learner.
Grow me up to be fair,
judgment free,
aware, kind and patient.
Grow me up, Mary —
plugged in to how things really are,
without falling for the deceptions,
listening to lies and the hype.
I'm God's holy child too,
your child too, Mary —
grow me up well.
Amen.
