Life of Joseph: Joseph Tells The Meaning Of The Prisoners' Dreams

Guerrieri Giovanni Francesco

(Fossombrone 1589 - Pesaro 1655)

After various attributions, all limited to French Caravaggesque painters (Claude Mellan, Valentin de Boulogne, Nicolas Régnier), critics definitively attributed the work to the Marche painter. His name was also put forward for the fact that he had worked as a decorator in the service of Marcantonio Borghese in 1618, in the Palazzo Borghese in Campo Marzio.

The subject, taken from the famous biblical story, takes place in a prison, and portrays Joseph as he predicts the fate of the Pharaoh’s baker and cupbearer, his cellmates. The influence of Caravaggio is clear, particularly the Calling of Saint Matthew, as well as the Nordic quality of other details such as the landscape with some characters painted beyond the bars.

Object details

Commentary

The painting is mentioned for the first time as part of the Borghese collection in 1693, ascribed by the compiler of the inventory to Antiveduto Grammatica, a name revised over the centuries in favour of Caravaggio (Inv. 1700, room II, no. 66), Guercino (Inv. 1790, room V, no. 21), and Valentin de Boulogne (Inventario Fidecommissario, 1833; Piancastelli, 1891; A. Venturi, 1893). Doubts regarding the paternity of the work continued throughout the 20th century. Roberto Longhi first ascribed it to Artemisia Gentileschi (1916) and later to Nicolas Régnier (1928). In 1937, Aldo de Rinaldis described the canvas as an “unknown Caravaggesque,” but soon (1939) changed his mind and attributed it to Orazio Gentileschi. Tentatively led back to an unknown Caravaggesque painter by Paola della Pergola, in 1968 the painting was attributed quite decisively by Jacques Thuillier to Claude Millan, an opinion embraced by Arnauld Brejon de Lavergnée (1973) and Benedict Nicolson (1979), but questioned by Luigi Ficacci (1989). The issue was resolved on the one hand by Gianni Papi (1991), and on the other by Marina Cellini and Andrea Emiliani, who in 1991 advanced an attribution to Giovan Francesco Guerrieri, resolving one of the most complex Caravaggesque conundrums, a conclusion to which even Longhi (1916) had apparently arrived in some measure. In particular, in 1997 Papi reconfirmed his reference to the painter from Marche, comparing this Joseph with other works by Guerrieri, such as the canvases in the Chapel of St Nicholas in Sassoferrato and The Repentant Magdalen from Fano (Cassa di Risparmio Collection).   

The subject of this canvas is a scene from the Bible, where in the last book of Genesis (Genesis 20, 1-23) we find that God has bestowed the power to interpret dreams upon Joseph, one of Jacob’s twelve sons. Unjustly accused of attempted rape by Potiphar’s wife, the young man is sent to prison, where he meets the pharaoh’s baker and cupbearer. He reveals to them the meaning of their dreams, prophesizing that the first man will be put to death, while the second will eventually be set free. The painting depicts the moment when Joseph is telling the baker of his sad fate, counting off on his left hand the days the pharaoh’s official has left before he is hung. As duly noted by Olga Melasecchi (2010), this painting is likely the most Caravaggesque in the painter’s catalogue, both in the play of light and in the realism of the figures, not to mention the many details that embellish the composition, such as the ceramic jars on the right, mitigated by an “ornate, Flemish-like descriptiveness” and by the results of the Tuscan reformation (see Emiliani, 1991).

If Papi (1997) was correct in placing the execution of this painting around 1618, at the same time as the decoration of the apartment of Palazzo Borghese in Campo Marzio (the execution is set a little earlier, around 1615-17, by Barbara Ghelfi, 2011), we can assume that the work became part of the Borghese Collection before 1693, most likely commissioned by Prince Marcantonio together with other works, among which Saint Rocco (inv. 69) and Lot and His Daughters (inv. 45).  

A reproduction of this painting is preserved in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. 1551) and has been, with some hesitation, ascribed to the same painter by Papi (1993), who judged it to be a later version he produced in the Marche.          

Antonio Iommelli