Joseph sold to Potiphar

This picture formed part of the decoration of the bedroom of Pierfrancesco Borgherini in the Borgherini palace in Florence, and was commissioned to celebrate his marriage in 1515. The story is taken from the Old Testament (Genesis 39: 1). Joseph had been his father’s favourite son and was given a coat of many colours by him. His jealous half-brothers sold Joseph to a caravan of Ishmaelite merchants taking perfumes and spices to Egypt. The brothers smeared goat’s blood on Joseph’s coat and told their father that Joseph was dead.

This scene shows Joseph (the central young boy in yellow) standing before his new master, Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, to whom he has just been sold. The Ishmaelites are grappling for their payment on the left. One of them bends over, his back to the viewer and his head between his legs, to pick up a coin from the ground.

Text: © The National Gallery, London

Painting photographed in its frame by Google Arts & Culture, 2023.