Joseph and His Brethren, Genesis 41 (recto); Minor Sketches of Head and Figures (verso)

Lazzaro Baldi was among the most gifted pupils of the Baroque artist Pietro da Cortona. This expressive sheet suggests the events of Genesis 44. Joseph's brothers come to Egypt to buy grain, not recognizing the leader as Joseph. He knows them, however, and wants them to suffer for selling him into slavery 20 years earlier. Here Joseph sentences Jacob's young son Benjamin to a life of slavery, but a repentant Judah bows down and offers himself instead. At this, Joseph forgives all.