This painting was one of Sebastiano del Piombo’s first and has been attributed both to Giorgione and Titian in his early period, testament to the affinity between the work of these three artists in around 1508. There is a noticeable Giorgionesque quality to the landscape, enhanced by overtones of Dürer, whose prints were common currency in Venice. The head of Saint Joseph, stolen in 1849 and never found again, has been completely restored.