Joseph in Prison Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh's Butler and Baker (Genesis 40:1-23)

Previously attributed to Marten de Vos, the drawing was identified as a study by Bertoia for a fresco in the Stanza dei Sogni (Room of Dreams) in the Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola by Hugo Chapman in around 1995 (Bologna, 1991, 78-80, no. 202). Considered Bertoia’s masterpiece at Caprarola, the Stanza dei Sogni is located on the piano nobile of the palazzo and was evidently used as a bedroom. The frescoes on the vault portray various scenes of dreams from the Old Testament, with Jacob’s Dream in a large oval compartment taking up most of the vault. Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh’s Butler and Baker is one of four rectangular scenes in the four lunettes of the vault above the cornice. Joseph is the figure in the middle, the co-prisoner on the right, who raises his arm, apparently the baker, who dreamt “I had three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for the Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them” (Genesis 40), while the one on the left is probably the butler. The Morgan Library drawing is one of ten studies by Bertoia for the Stanza dei Sogni (De Grazia, 1991, no. 78-80).