The Selling of Joseph by his Brothers
Sébastien Bourdon (Montpellier 1616 – Paris 1671)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1640
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
864 x 1118 mm (34 x 44 in)
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486136
Caption
Joseph, the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch, Jacob, was sold into slavery by his brothers, who were jealous of his status as their father’s favourite son. They sold him for twenty pieces of silver to passing merchants who took him to Egypt. Paris Bourdon was in Rome between 1634 and 1637, and the influence of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (c.1616-65) in this picture suggests a date soon afterwards, around 1640. The painting was bought by the 2nd Earl in 1756 and was hung at Egremont House. Horace Walople linked Lord Egremont to a group of rich collectors ‘whose glaring extravagance is the constant high price given for pictures’ and ‘who care not what they give.’ In fact, the Earl paid fairly reasonable prices for his pictures, although this Bourdon was one of the more expensive.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Selling of Joseph by his Brothers by Sébastien Bourdon (Montpellier 1616 – Paris 1671), circa 1640. This biblical scene from the Old Testament's Book of Genesis (37) shows the selling of Joseph (Jacob and Rachel's son), who can be seen in the centre, by his brothers (Jacob and Leah's sons), on the right, one in scarlet receiving payment (twenty pieces of silver) from a man in armour. At left can be seen three women and a pony laden with vessels with a boy on a camel behind them. In the left mid-distance are columns, another camel and two men; in the foreground at the extreme left are sheep. Joseph was taken to Egypt by the merchants.
Provenance
Dr Bragge sale, 18 February 1756, lot 71; bought by the 2nd Earl of Egremont for 95 gns; thereafter in family ownwership at Petworth until 1957 when the contents of the state rooms were acquired by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and the picture was transferred to the National Trust
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Makers and roles
Sébastien Bourdon (Montpellier 1616 – Paris 1671), artist
Exhibition history
The Treasure Houses of Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA, 1985 - 1986, no.280
References
Remastered - Bosch to Bellotto: An Exhibition of Petworth's European Old Masters (exh cat) (Andrew Loukes) Petworth House, West Sussex, 9 January - 6 March 2016, cat. 38, p. 19