The Story of Joseph, I

Bartolomeo di Giovanni painted this first panel of the Story of Joseph around 1487, likely as part of a cassone or spalliera set. The Old Testament Joseph narrative, with its themes of virtue, temptation, and ultimate triumph, was one of the most popular subjects for Florentine domestic painting. These decorative commissions provided steady work for painters like Bartolomeo who excelled at continuous narrative. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting.

Tempera on panel with energetic multi-episode narrative and detailed architectural settings. Bartolomeo's fluent storytelling and vivid characterization made him one of Florence's leading narrative painters.