Bible in art · Genesis

Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brothers

Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw

Again Doré stages the story of Joseph in an Egyptian temple: rows of carved columns, sphinxes, and a doorway crowned with stone faces. Light comes in through an opening in the roof at the far end and falls on the figures in the middle.

Joseph stands on the steps in rich robes and a necklace, his arms open wide. His brothers crowd around him: some kneel and hide their faces, one embraces him, others reach out. At the left two sphinxes watch, and a man turns away with his head in his hands.

From the text

“I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt!” (Genesis 45:4)
“Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them” (Genesis 45:15)
At first they could not answer him, for they were terrified (Genesis 45:3)

The artist’s own

Sphinxes and a doorway with Hathor heads, copied from Egyptian temples
Joseph in jewels and an Egyptian headdress

Details

Joseph

He stands on the steps with his arms open wide.

The embrace

A brother kneels and holds him, his head bowed.

Sphinxes

Two stone sphinxes guard the left side.

The doorway

A great doorway with stone faces above it.

Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 1, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1873 (acc. 75.267 A), tabl. 28 · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.

The verses

Gen 45:1–15Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own. And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’ Behold! You and my brother Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you. Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.” Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him.

See it at the museum’s site