Joseph and Potiphar's Wife
Historical Context
Guercino's Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, painted in 1649, illustrates the Old Testament story of Joseph resisting the seductions of his master's wife — a popular subject that allowed Baroque painters to combine sensuous beauty with moral virtue. This work, painted as a companion to the Amnon and Tamar, demonstrates Guercino's facility with Old Testament narrative subjects. Both paintings share the restrained classical manner of his later career.
Technical Analysis
Guercino's oil-on-canvas technique renders the dramatic confrontation with the warm palette and fluid brushwork of his late manner. The contrast between Joseph's resistance and the woman's insistence is handled with compositional energy and expressive gesture.
Provenance
Commissioned by Aurelio Zaneletti [or Zanoletti] of Reggio in 1649.[1] (Samuel Woodburn, 1820-1823).[2] Charles Stewart, 3d marquess of Londonderry [1778-1854], London, by 1833;[3] by descent to Alexander Charles Robert Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 9th marquess of Londonderry [b. 1937], Wynyard Park;[4] purchased 1986 by NGA. [1] This painting and NGA 1986.17.1 were produced by Guercino between 1649 and 1650. Zaneletti was a collector from Reggio Emilia, and the artist's account book records on 10 March 1649 a down payment of twenty-one _scudi_ by Zaneletti for a "quadro con due mezze figure." On 25 August of the same year Guercino recorded that he had received the final payment from Zaneletti of 150 _scudi_ for the finished painting of a "fuga di Gioseppe." An entry in the account book of 26 March 1650 records another payment of 150 _scudi_ from Zaneletti for a painting of Amnon and Tamar. [2] That the dealer Samuel Woodburn purchased the painting and its companion in Italy and transported them to England is suggested by a series of letters from his good friend Sir Thomas Lawrence: published in D. E. Williams, _The Life and Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lawrence_, 2 vols., London, 1831; this reference was provided by Burton Fredericksen of The Getty Provenance Index (letter of 8 February 1988, NGA curatorial files). On 29 June 1820, Lawrence asked Samuel Woodburn, then on the continent, probably in Italy, "What will you sell the Potiphar's Wife for, unaccompanied by the other picture? Suppose you were to make up your mind to this, Lord D. likes the other best. There's a good chance of your selling the Potiphar's Wife to the M..." (Williams 1831: 2:280). Writing to Woodburn in Rome on 17 December 1822, Lawrence records the arrival at Calais of "the Guercinos" (Williams 1831: 2:281). In letters to Woodburn in Paris of early 1823 and of 8 March 1823, Lawrence says how much he likes "the Guercinos," especially the _Joseph and Potiphar's Wife_ (Williams 1831: 2:294, 413). "The M" may be Lawrence's good friend and patron, Charles Stewart, who, however, succeeded to the marquesate of Londonderry only in 1822. Although Stewart owned the paintings by 1833 (see note 3), there is no record that he purchased them from Woodburn. [3] M. Passavant, _Tour of a German Artist in England_, 2 vols., London, 1836: 178, mentions the paintings in the Londonderry collection, misidentifying the _Amnon and Tamar_ as "Tarquin and Lucretia." [4] M. Montgomery Hyde, _Londonderry House and Its Pictures_, London, 1937: 15, 56.
