An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and admonishes him to return home

Juan de Borgoña's An Angel Appears to Joseph in a Dream and Admonishes Him to Return Home, painted in 1504 and now in the Museo Diocesano de Cuenca, depicts the episode from the Gospel of Matthew in which the angel instructs the Holy Family to leave Egypt and return to Israel after Herod's death. Juan de Borgoña was the leading painter in Toledo in the first decades of the sixteenth century, responsible for major fresco cycles in Toledo Cathedral that helped introduce the Florentine Renaissance into Spanish painting. Of Burgundian or French origin as his name suggests, he absorbed Italian Renaissance conventions before settling in Castile, where he transformed local religious painting. This panel from Cuenca documents the geographic spread of his influence beyond the cathedral city.

The nocturnal dream scene places the sleeping Joseph at center, with the angel appearing in a luminous vision above. The contrast between the sleeping figure and the radiant angelic presence is handled with attention to the unusual light conditions. The palette is warmer and more Italianate than purely Spanish Gothic precedents.