Anne L. Williams's Satire, Veneration, and St. Joseph in Art, c. 1300–1550 seeks to reconcile the seemingly disparate and conflicting interpretations of the visual tradition of Saint Joseph from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. While the study focuses specifically on imagery of Saint Joseph, a key contribution of the work is the assertion that the use of humor and satire in devotional art is not antithetical to veneration: instead, Williams argues that humor and satire played significant roles in religious works of art throughout the early modern period. Williams's examination of Saint Joseph takes a significant step toward challenging the concept of a singular meaning in religious and, particularly, devotional imagery. She argues convincingly that in order to get to a more accurate understanding of the history of the rise of Saint Joseph's cult, one must look beyond the strictly ecclesiastical sources. This author's embrace of and reconciliation between high and low cultural production, ecclesiastical and popular in nature, throughout this study not only supports a much earlier rise of the saint's popularity than previously indicated but also creates a more complex reading of this saint's visual tradition that has implications for continued study of early modern devotional art. It is useful to note that while the majority of the images selected for examination are drawn from north of the Alps, Williams notes in her introduction that similar humorous Josephine iconography existed in Italy as well as Northern Europe.

Williams begins her study by addressing the rise of Saint Joseph's cult in art. By taking account of seemingly derisive representations of Joseph and his popular relic, his stockings, or Hosen, Williams establishes convincingly that the saint's cult appeared as early as the thirteenth century. Establishing the argument that ridicule and reverence could coexist in religious and devotional imagery, Williams moves more deeply into the examination of specific humorous depictions to reconcile the seemingly contradictory aspects of derision and devotion. In the second chapter, she draws more deeply into the common tropes of Saint Joseph as a doddering fool, henpecked husband, or cuckold, linking them to the profane traditions of humor and play, as well as the medieval concept of inversion or world upside-down. This approach is deepened in the following chapters, where Josephine imagery is placed more securely into the broader context of contemporary sources of humor and satire. Williams asserts the fundamental argument that laughter and humor did not challenge Joseph's sanctity, but rather were signs of the strength of his veneration. In chapter 3, Williams focuses specifically on how humor and laughter function in religious and devotional imagery, and posits a richly complex, multivalent reading of Saint Joseph through an examination of poetics and rhetorical concepts. In doing so, she further supports her argument that derisive images of the saintly figure exemplify a notion of veneration through laughter. She notes significantly that this use of humor is not simply a mechanism for connecting to the low or uneducated audiences of the laity, but also served the highly educated elite and religious as well. In her final chapter, Williams deepens the argument to access the multiple layers of meaning that might speak in an image to a variety of viewers, both lay and religious. This multivalence is explored to achieve a more complex understanding of how late medieval and early modern religious imagery functioned for its audiences.

Williams successfully reconciles the opposing ideals of ridicule, derision, and humor with reverence, veneration, and devotion, and in doing so reminds us that religious imagery functioned on multiple levels and drew diverse sources. Through this well-argued and well-supported study, Williams has contributed significantly to our knowledge of Josephine imagery and Saint Joseph's cult. Its larger contribution can be found in the insistence that religious imagery functioned more complexly than scholars typically are able to access. Through careful analysis of the imagery, the use of a much broader collection of sources, and a deeper examination of poetics and rhetoric within the specific cultural context of early modern humor, Williams provides a highly nuanced model for understanding how religious imagery functioned for early modern audiences.