DAVIDE GHIRLANDAIO FLORENCE 1452 - 1525 TWO CASSONE PANELS WITH SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF JOSEPH THE FORMER (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT): JOSEPH BEFORE JACOB AND RACHEL; JOSEPH'S BROTHERS SELL HIM TO THE ISHMAELITE MERCHANTS; JOSEPH AND POTIPHAR'S WIFE; JOSEPH IN PRISON; AND JOSEPH INTERPRETTING PHARAOH'S DREAMS THE LATTER (FROM RIGHT TO LEFT): JOSEPH'S CUP IS FOUND IN BENJAMIN'S SACK OF CORN; THE RECONCILIATION OF JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS; JOSEPH AND JACOB ARE REUNITED Quantity: 2 both, oil on poplar panel the former: 16 3/4 by 64 3/8 in.; 42.5 by 163.5 cm. the latter: 16 1/8 by 64 3/8 in.; 41 by 163.5 cm.
R. Benson, The Holford Collection, London 1924, pp. 53-54, under nos. 28 and 29, reproduced pl. XXXIVA, (as Florentine c. 1490, by a follower of Fra Diamante); J.W. Goodison and G.H. Robertson, Catalogue of Paintings in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, vol. II, The Italian Schools, Cambridge 1967, pp. 6–7 (as attributed to Bartolomeo di Giovanni); B. Berenson, Italian Paintings of the Renaissance: Florentine School, London 1963, vol. I, p. 73 (as early works by Davide Ghirlandajo (?)); E. Fahy, Some Followers of Domenico Ghirlandajo, New York 1976, p. 129, under nos. 11, 12 (as almost certainly...by David Ghirlandajo).
Provenance
Robert Stayner Holford (1808-1892), Westonbirt, Gloucestershire; Thence by inheritance to his son, Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926), Wetsonbirt and Dorchester House, London; His sale, London, Christie's, 15 July 1927, lot 51 (as Florentine School, a follower of Filippo Lippi, possibly Fra Diamante); Where acquired by Lady Pollen, Norton Hall, Mickleton, Gloucestershire, and thence by descent to P.M.H. Pollen, Esq.; By who anonymously sold, (The Property of a Gentleman), London, Sotheby's, 8 December 1976, lot 118; Anonymous Sale, London, Sotheby's, 3 July, 1996, lot 74; Where acquired by the present owner.
Notes
These elaborately decorated panels tell the story of the biblical hero Joseph, who is sold into slavery by his brothers, but becomes their salvation during a horrible famine. Taken from the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the scenes bring to life the story told in chapters 37 - 46. The first panel opens on the left with the young Joseph kneeling before his father Jacob in the presence of his mother Rachel. Jacob preferred Joseph to his other sons because he was born to him in his old age and brought him joy. Consumed by jealousy, his brothers plot against him, and in the background of the central scene, they throw Joseph into a cistern when he comes to find them while they are tending to their father's flocks. Persuaded by one of the oldest brothers not to kill Joseph and have his blood on their hands, they instead sell him, in the foreground, for twenty pieces of silver to a group of passing Ishmaelite merchants, who in turn sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt. Once there, Joseph becomes the trusted servant of Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, until Potiphar's wife becomes infatuated with him and attempts to seduce him. Angry at being spurned by Joseph, Potiphar's wife tells her husband that Joseph has been making amorous advances towards her and has him imprisoned. While in prison, Joseph successfully interprets the dreams of Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and baker, and, finally after being imprisoned for several years, is brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph's wisdom, that he makes him his most trusted advisor and puts him in charge of stockpiling grain and other food for the famine that Joseph has forseen in his dreams.
The second panel should be read from right to left: in the middle ground on the far right, Joseph's brothers, accompanied by their youngest brother, Benjamin, make their way to Egypt for the second time to buy grain from Joseph, whom they do not recognize as their kin. In the foreground, Joseph's servant finds his master's cup -- which Joseph has planted there as a way to get back at his brothers -- in Benjamin's grain sack and claims the young child for Joseph. Upon hearing this, the older brothers cry out and tear their clothing, as they had promised Jacob that they would keep him safe. They go before Joseph to plead for Benjamin and Joseph is so moved by their concern that he reveals himself to them as their brother, forgives them for their sins against him, and tells them to move their families to Egypt, where he promises to provide for them during the ongoing famine. In the last scene, on the far left, Joseph and his father are finally and happily reunited.
Although it has been suggested in the past that these panels formed the fronts of two different cassoni -- or marriage chests -- it seems more probable that they represent the front and back panels of a single trunk. Not only do the panels depict scenes from the same biblical narrative, but the second panel reads chronologically from right to left, as opposed to the left to right arrangement in the first panel. Such a configuration would only make sense if it were the back panel of the same cassone, as each panel would then begin and end on the same edges of the chest.
The younger brother of the celebrated artist Domenico Ghirlandaio, Davide was himself a painter and mosaicist. Because he served from an early age as an assistant and collaborator in his brother's workshop, Davide's oeuvre and personality are difficult to separate from that of his more well-known brother. Davide's early manner is especially difficult to distinguish due to the lack of documented, independent commissions ascribed to him; however, more information is available concerning his work as a mosaicist. In 1491 and 1493, for example, he received commissions for the mosaic decoration of the facades of Orvieto and Siena cathedrals respectively. After Domenico's death in 1494, Davide took over the workshop and completed several commissions, including the decoration of the high altar of S. Maria Novella.
Although not described in Waagen's account of the Holford collection, these two panels are recorded in Benson's 1924 catalogue of that distinguished collection, where they are simply described as "Florentine" (see Literature). Robert Stayner Holford was a wealthy landscaper, gardener and art collector from Gloucestershire. His collection was notable not only for its many fine paintings, but also for its impressive number of Old Master drawings. Upon his death, Holford's son, Sir George Holford, inherited his father's vast fortune, property and art collection. Although he did not share his father's interest in fine art and rare books, Sir George was an avid amateur horticulturalist who continued his father's work of turning their extensive property in Gloucestershire into the Westonbirt Arboretum, which is still open to the public today. When he was not gardening, George Holford was a celebrated military officer, veteran of the Boer War and prominent member of the coteries of Prince Albert , Duke of Clarence, whom he served as Equerry until 1892; and Prince (later King) Edward, whom he served in the same capacity from 1892 -- with a brief interruption during the Boer War -- until the King's death in 1910. George did not marry until later in life and had no children of his own. Upon his death in 1926, the majority of his estate passed to his nephew the 4th Earl of Morley and the art collection amassed by him and his father was sold in a celebrated and record-breaking series of sales in 1927.
A pair of cassone panels with similar iconography and given to Bartolommeo di Giovanni were formerly in the Artaud de Montor and Northwick collections and are today in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (inv. nos. M3 and M4; see Literature). In his 1976 study of the followers of Domenico Ghirlandaio, however, Everett Fahy points out that any similarities between the two sets of panels are likely coincidental, as the present images are surely the work of Davide (see Literature).
