Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh`s Graneries 1874

Lawrence Alma-Tadema painted ‘Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh’s Granaries’ at an unknown date with oil on panel. The artist was working in England at this point and was a master of the Victorian ‘Archaeological’ style, a genre of art which drew on research into Ancient civilisations. This painting gives insight into the British Empire’s cultural fascination with ancient Egypt. The picture is full of cultural references; the walls are covered in hieroglyphs and painted with lotus flowers, a symbol associated with Upper Egypt. Joseph sits on an ornate throne, holding a staff of authority. In the Bible, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, but rose to become an important figure in the Pharaoh’s court. To understand the social and political context of artworks like this, art historians might consult ancient texts and archaeological records to analyse how Egypt was understood in the Victorian imagination. What can this fascination tell us about the cultural and imperial ambitions of the British Empire?