Attributed to Jan Mostaert

In the Mauritshuis in The Hague, a small panel of Joseph in prison hangs under Jan Mostaert's name, with the words attributed to beside it. That qualifier is what this entry stands for. The museum finds the picture close enough to Mostaert to file it under him, and keeps its doubt on the label.

Doubt comes easily with Mostaert. He was the leading painter of Haarlem in the first half of the 16th century, born there around 1475, and he died there in 1552 or 1553. Until the late 19th century many of the pictures now given to him went under the name of an anonymous master, and his work of some 30 to 40 paintings has been pieced together by scholars comparing one panel with another.

The Hague panel is dated around 1500. It shows Joseph in prison, explaining the dreams of Pharaoh's baker and cupbearer. The museum bought it in 1955.