The Story of Joseph, I

Tempera paint, made with egg yolk as a binder, was favored in Florence for its precision and luminous finish. The figures are rendered with careful linearity and muted color, typical of late 15th-century Florentine practice. Spatial depth is suggested through layered landscapes and diminishing scale, though perspective remains schematic rather than fully naturalistic.

The painting was long attributed to an anonymous assistant in Ghirlandaio’s workshop, known as the 'Alunno di Domenico.' Modern scholarship, notably by Bernard Berenson and later researchers, reattributed it to Bartolomeo di Giovanni based on stylistic comparisons and documentary evidence linking him to Ghirlandaio’s circle during the 1490s.

Florence in the 1490s was a center for religious narrative painting, often commissioned for private chapels or domestic altarpieces. Artists like Bartolomeo worked within established workshop systems, producing scenes from scripture for devotional use. The emphasis on narrative clarity and symbolic detail reflects the period’s preference for legible biblical storytelling over dramatic emotion.

Bartolomeo’s work exemplifies the transition from early to high Renaissance conventions in Florence. Though overshadowed by contemporaries like Ghirlandaio or Botticelli, his panels contribute to understanding the collaborative nature of Renaissance production. His attribution history underscores how archival research continues to reshape the canon of lesser-known artists.