The Carpenter's Shop in Nazareth

Religious paintings in private chapels often had both didactic and devotional purposes. From the sixteenth century, missionaries intent on imposing Catholic doctrine and Christian morality on native people promoted domestic scenes of the Holy Family such as The Carpenter’s Shop in Nazareth as models for proper family conduct. An oratory would also have been an apt location for a painting such as the Christ Child with Passion Symbols, whose emblematic elements made it particularly suitable for devotion.