(active in Genoa in the 17th Century)
Joseph’s cup is found in Benjamin’s sack of corn,
oil on canvas, 134 x 161 cm, framed

Provenance:
with La Pinacoteca Gallery, Naples;
Almagià collection, Rome;
thence by descent to the present owner

Literature:
T. Zennaro, Il Ritrovamento della coppa nel sacco di Beniamino e una traccia per la ricostruzione del catalogo del Maestro di San Giacomo alla Marina (Giuseppe Assereto?), in: Tre opere de la Pinacoteca, Naples 2009, pp. 35-71;
T. Zennaro, Gioacchino Assereto (1600-1650) e i pittori della sua scuola, Soncino 2011, II, p. 590, no. E7, pl. CXX

The present painting has been connected by Tiziana Zennaro (see literature) to the production of the, as yet, anonymous artist who has been given the moniker of the Master of San Giacomo alla Marina. This name derives from the painting representing Saint James Preaching which was executed for the Oratorio di San Giacomo alla Marina, Genoa, around 1650 (see T. Zennaro, Gioacchino Assereto (1600-1650) e i pittori della sua scuola, Soncino 2011, II, E1). This was a commission of some importance and demonstrates how the present painter could compete with the leading artists of the age in Genoa, as other works for the same cycle were executed by Orazio De Ferrari, Domenico Piola, Valerio Castello and Giovanni Battista Castiglione called Il Grechetto.

The present painting represents an episode from Genesis (44: 1-13): during the famine Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain, and there without recognising him, they met their brother Joseph who was governor of Egypt. Joseph, however, had recognised them and asked that on their next journey their youngest brother Benjamin should also be present. On that occasion Joseph had his silver cup hidden in the youth’s sack, and when the brothers departed he caught up with them and accused them of theft. The painting represents the very moment when Joseph’s oldest sibling finds the cup in Benjamin’s sack as the brothers look on in dismay.

The present compostion reveals the influence of the work of Gioacchino Assereto, who treated the same subject in a work conserved in the Pinacoteca dei Cappuccini di Voltaggio that is datable to between 1645 and 1650 (see T. Zennaro, Ibid. I, A118). The present painting reiterates the overall composition of Assereto’s painting as well as the close rendering of the two figures seen on the left.

This would indicate that the present work was executed by an artist closely associated to Gioacchino Assereto. Zennaro has suggested identifying the anonymous painter as Giuseppe Assereto, the son and apprentice of Gioacchino. Giuseppe was a complex artist who, although formally influenced by the style of his father, was also able to develop a personal language that reflected the contribution of other Genoese artists active during the first half of the seventeenth century. Indeed, in the present painting the influence of Giovanni Andrea De Ferrari can also be noted in the youthful figures, and the influence of Il Grechetto can be seen in both the setting, and the types of figure represented in the background. Zennaro dates our painting to between 1650 and 1652: a period when the artist developed a formal language characterised by a surface softness, achieved with a fluidly loaded brush and a particular attention to drawing, as exemplified in the present Recovery of the cup in Benjamin’s sack.