Gaspare Diziani (Belluno 1689 – Venice 1767) “Joseph Sold to Potiphar”

GASPARE DIZIANI (Belluno 1689 – Venice 1767)
Joseph sold to Potiphar
Oil on canvas, 118×196 cm; with frame 140×218,5 cm
circa 1725–1730

Gaspare Diziani, one of the most important painters of 18th-century Veneto, studied in the workshop of Antonio Lazzarini in Belluno and, after moving to Venice, with Gregorio Lazzarini. However, it was Sebastiano Ricci who had the greatest influence on his painting, and thanks to him he acquired great fame throughout his life. This fame was primarily due to his theatrical set designs, which engaged him in Venetian theaters and earned him a call to serve Augustus III of Saxony in Dresden and Munich. In the years that followed, he worked in various cities of the Veneto, such as Treviso and Padua, and spent time in Rome, Bergamo, and Trento, producing works ranging from historical, mythological, and religious works to portraits and landscapes.

The work depicts the famous episode from the Old Testament in which Joseph, one of Jacob's twelve sons, is sold into slavery by his own brothers to Potiphar, head of the king of Egypt's guard.

From the expertise of Egidio Martini:
“The painting depicting 'Joseph Sold to Potiphar' is, in my opinion, a certain work by Gaspare Diziani (Belluno 1689 – Venice 1767). It is one of his most stylistically robust paintings, where the form is modeled in an almost sculptural manner. This singular quality, however, does not compromise the color values ​​of the work which, here too, as always in Diziani, are presented with a richness and splendor of beautiful hues. Precisely because of these formal characteristics, I believe the painting was executed between 1725 and 1730, very similar to the ceiling of the Parish Church of Borbiago (VE), completed before 1732 (see Vincenzo da Canal, Vita del Lazzarini, 1809) and, again, to the Gallant Scene, from the same period, in the Lapicirella collection in Florence, illustrated in my 'Venetian Painting of the Eighteenth Century', 1964, fig. 169.”

The painting is published by F. Valcanover in “Studi Trentini di Scienze Storiche”, year LX, n. 2, 1981, p. 290.

In 2025, the Superintendency of Piedmont recognized the work as being of interest to the national cultural heritage, calling it a "painting of great quality" and "an important addition to the master's catalogue." The painting is accompanied by Certificate of Free Circulation no. 101411 of July 1, 2024, issued by the Milan Export Office.

2023.128.1

To supplement the descriptions, the “Antichità Giglio” gallery makes available, upon request, condition reports on the state of conservation of its assets and national and international transport estimates.