Joseph made known to his brothers

A reversed etching of a drawing by Pier Francesco Mola that Ruland (1876) catalogued as being then in possession of Earl of Leicester, Holkham Hall. See RCIN 850215 for a photograph of the drawing. This is the first state of the print without lettering; the lettered state shows the line 'P F Mola inv et pinxit Romae'. This print is inscribed in pencil at the bottom of the sheet with the name: "Molla".

The attribution of the print has been disputed: Bartsch catalogued this print as being by Pier Francesco Mola, but in the more recent edition of the Illustrated Bartsch (see Bibliographic References) it is ascribed to Francesco Giovane. An old attribution of this print to Carlo Maratti was probably based on similarities between this etching and the 'Martyrdom of St Andrew'  executed by Maratti (see RCIN 807755 and 807756 for two impressions of this print).

This drawing depicts Joseph made known to his brothers: this subject was painted by Pier Francesco Mola in a fresco in the Gallery of the Quirinal Palace in Rome (c.1656-1657). This highly finished drawing, which is squared up for transfer, appears similar to the final fresco. Another drawing by Pier Francesco Mola of a similar subject, now in the British Museum (inv.no. 1857,0613.367) shares some elements with the Holkham Hall drawing.