THE SILENT YEARS AT HOME.
Tradition says that Joseph soon died, and that Jesus supported the family by working at his trade.
Hunt, Plate 40, has invented an occasion to emphasize the prophetic words often applied to Mary, "Is any sorrow like unto my sorrow?" (Lam. 1:12.) Simeon had said "Yea and a sword shall pierce through thine own soul," and Mary, "pondering all these things in her heart," is startled, at the close of the day, by seeing the shadow of her son cast upon the wall, like the form of one upon a cross.
Plockhörst, Plate 41, depicts the parting of Mother and Son,—another pang for the saintly Mary.
Plate 42 is Andrea del Sarto's famous the youthful John the Baptist, in the days before he came preaching in the of Judea. (Luke 1:80.)
Titian, Plate 43, shows John as he appeared a few years later upon the banks of Jordan, "his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins." (Matt. 3:1-4.) He seems to be saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29.) The river is introduced as a symbol (Luke 3:16), and the lamb also (John 1:35). Del Sarto seems to have studied this figure before painting his boy John. Compare the two faces, and the two arms and hands. Notice the two crosses also.