Potiphar Names Joseph Administrator

The Master of Affligem, named after the Benedictine abbey near Brussels, was active around 1500 and produced narrative paintings drawn from biblical and historical sources. This scene of Potiphar naming Joseph as administrator, now in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, belongs to a cycle illustrating the Old Testament story of Joseph in Egypt. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

The panel features the detailed narrative approach of Brussels workshop painting, with figures in contemporary Burgundian dress set within an elaborate architectural interior, combining biblical subject matter with Netherlandish genre observation.