Pontormo (1494-1557)
I fratelli di Giuseppe chiedono aiuto (Joseph’s Brothers beg for Help)
c.1515
Oil on wood, 36.3 x 142.5 cm
National Gallery, London
This picture was commissioned to celebrate the marriage of the banker Pierfrancesco Borgherini to Margherita Accaiuoli in 1515. It formed part of a series of that decorated their bedroom in the Borgherini palace in Florence. The group of pictures by Florentine painters, known as The Story of Joseph: Scenes from the Borgherini Bedchamber, includes panels by Bacchiacca as well as Pontormo in the National Gallery’s collection. Granacci and Andrea del Sarto also contributed to the decorative scheme, which would have been one of the most sumptuous of the time.
Having been sold into slavery by his jealous half-brothers, Joseph was taken to Egypt and bought by Potiphar, the head of Pharaoh’s guard (Joseph sold to Potiphar). Joseph refused the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife, who falsely accused him of rape and had him thrown into jail. When in prison Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker, who had been imprisoned for offending him. Joseph foresaw that the butler would be reinstated but the baker would be hanged (Pharaoh with his Butler and Baker).
Joseph had asked the butler to mention him to Pharaoh and secure his release, but the butler forgot. Joseph remained in prison for another two years until Pharaoh himself had a dream of seven fat cows and seven lean cows, which none of his advisers could interpret. The butler remembered Joseph, who advised Pharaoh to store grain because seven plentiful years would be followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh made Joseph his vizier, the second most powerful man in Egypt.
In this episode, Joseph’s brothers arrive from Canaan (Palestine) to beg for help in the second year of the famine. They do not recognise their long-lost brother Joseph, who does not speak to them in Hebrew or reveal his identity (Genesis 42: 1–8). The brothers prostrate themselves before Joseph, who sits in command on a classical triumphal chariot. On the right, grain is distributed from Pharaoh’s stores.
The inscriptions on the chariot allude to Christ’s title of Salvator Mundi (‘Saviour of the World’). Joseph has saved the Egyptians from starvation. A parallel was often made between the lives of Joseph and Christ, with Joseph’s story anticipating Christ’s.
The next episode in the story is told in Joseph receives his Brothers on their Second Visit to Egypt by Bacchiacca. (NG)
Scenes from the Story of Joseph:
Pontormo (1494-1557)
Giuseppe venduto a Putifarre
c.1515
National Gallery, London
Pontormo (1494-1557)
Supplizio del fornaio
c.1515
National Gallery, London
Pontormo (1494-1557)
Giuseppe con Giacobbe in Egitto
probably 1518
National Gallery, London