Oratorio di San Giuseppe

The Oratory of San Giuseppe in Urbino is best known for its life-size stucco Nativity by Federico Brandani, made in the mid-sixteenth century. The sculpture occupies a lower chapel whose walls imitate a grotto; the upper hall retains paintings and sculpture associated with the later Baroque renewal.

Why it matters

The oratory brings together the devotional life of a sixteenth-century confraternity and the patronage of the Albani family, who renewed its interior from the mid-seventeenth century. Brandani's Nativity is a substantial sculptural group in stucco and one of the defining works of his career.

What to notice

The Cappella del Presepe, or lower chapel, is shaped to evoke a cave. Within it, Brandani's figures of the Holy Family, shepherds and other witnesses form a life-size Nativity group. The upper hall contains four large canvases depicting episodes from the life of Saint Joseph by Carlo Roncalli, as well as a statue of the saint by Giuseppe Lirioni. Two porphyry columns in its niche are said in the municipal account to have come from Rome's Pantheon.

Context and history

The oratory was built as the seat of a confraternity dedicated to Saint Joseph and completed in 1515, according to the municipal account. Its original layout comprised two chapels. From the mid-seventeenth century the Albani family financed a rebuilding of the interior, including the painted decoration and Roncalli's canvases. Brandani's Nativity predates this renewal and is dated to the mid-sixteenth century; sources differ over its precise year. The oratory is among the historic religious buildings within Urbino's World Heritage centre.