Joseph sold to Potiphar

In 1515 the Florentine merchant Pierfrancesco Borgherini married Margherita Acciaiuoli, and to furnish the newlyweds' bedroom their families commissioned a suite of painted panels telling the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. Set into the paneling and furniture, they were meant to be lived among, not hung in a gallery. The young Pontormo painted several, including this crowded scene of Joseph handed over to Potiphar, the traders on the left still haggling over their coins. The figures are slender and stretched, the color pitched high in pink and acid green. Years later, during the siege of Florence, an agent came to buy the whole room for the king of France, and Margherita drove him from the house, refusing to let her marriage bed be carried off in wartime.