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Detail of Suitors of Mary, with color removed. Enlarge

During his career, Anton Woensam only created about 40 paintings. He is better known for his printmaking. If you remove all the color from this painting, it might look more like a print. Even though the event depicted in this painting, the selection of a husband for Mary who would become the mother of Jesus, took place in the ancient Middle East, Woensam painted all the figures dressed in Renaissance-style clothing.

Text from the Book of James, that does not appear in the bible (collectively called Apocrypha), describes the selection of Joseph as Mary's husband from among the town bachelors. Each bachelor had a branch and the high priest took the branches, prayed over them and returned them to the bachelors. When Joseph received his branch, a dove flew from it. In the painting the dove and the flowering rod in Joseph's hand are the symbols of God's choice for Mary's husband.

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