The Angel Appearing to Joseph in his Dream

Shortly after Jesus’s birth, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, urging him to flee into Egypt with the Virgin and Child. Fearing the ‘King of the Jews’, the local ruler King Herod ordered all newly born boys to be killed. Rembrandt’s powers of observation are shown to best advantage here. Joseph, with his parted lips and entirely relaxed pose, is clearly sound asleep.