The King Pharaon seated on the throne receives Jacob, led by his son Joseph

myminifactory

A pivotal figure before the Clementino Competition, Giovanni Battista Bernero arrived in Rome through a grant of improvement, after completing his apprenticeship at Claudio Francesco Beaumont's renowned French art school. With this support, Bernero claimed second prize in the inaugural sculpture category of the 1766 banned Clementino Competition and secured top honors at the School of Nude that same year. Bernero remained in Rome until 1769, rubbing shoulders with prominent artists and scholars within Cardinal Alessandro Albani's circle while further honing his craft under Ignazio Collino. In 1770, he returned to native Piedmont, earning official positions at the Savoy court and the prestigious Royal Academy of Turin. The central figure in Joseph assumes a pivotal role, while Jacob, kneeling in blessing, forms an angled axis that intersects with the vertical lines of the backdrop's colonnade, where the figures of Joseph and his family are arranged on sloping relief floors. Bernero's clay work boasts a richer hue than other reliefs preserved in academic collections, thanks to a distinctive blend of brass powder paint and oil applied by the artist himself.