The two oval canvases depict Saint John the Baptist, dressed in camel hide and a red drape, and Saint Joseph, with the flowering staff. They were created a few years apart for Count Ettore Ghislieri. It was in that period that Count Ghislieri had founded an Academy of the Nude at his residence, known as the Ottenebrati, in which young painters could practise their drawing by copying models from life and where Guercino was the teacher. The Academy was open for only six years until 1652 when Count Ghislieri took orders as an Oratorian at Santa Maria di Galliera in Bologna. In 1676, he would bequeath the two ovals to the church, where they remained until the start of the nineteenth century when they passed to the Bologna Pinacoteca.

The Saint Joseph, painted in 1649, marks the passage to a more delicate palette than in his youthful years, made up of light colours, subtle nuances and delicate shadows, suitable for relaxed, intimate gestures.