Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife. Artist: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Engraver: unknown. Source: Die Bibel in Bildern, Plate 39. This plate is Figure 25b in in Lionel Gossman’s Unwilling Moderns: The Nazarene Painters of the Nineteenth Century [see bibliography]. Click on image to enlarge it.
And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. [Genesis 39: 7-12; King James Bible.]
Schnorr again uses a strong triangular composition of the only two figures in the illustration, as he had done in his depiction of Cain slaying his brother, and he intensifies the drama of the situation by setting the action against what is essentially a wall with openings — essentially the old Northern Renaissance parapet composition used to create depth in fifteenth-century paintings. The drama, movement, and beautiful arrangement of the arms of both Joseph and his would-be seducer make this one of Schnorr’s works that most directly opposes all aspects of early Nazarene style by harkening back to what we may term Post-Raphaelite art.
Related material
You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Digital Trust Library and the Columbia University Library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Bibliography
Die Bibel in Bildern [Picture Bible] von Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Leipzig: Georg Wigands, 1860. Hathi Digital Trust Library online version of a copy in the Columbia University Library. Web. 25 June 2016. — George P. Landow.
Gossman, Lionel. Unwilling Moderns: The Nazarene Painters of the Nineteenth Century. Victorian Web [Complete text in the Victorian Web].
Last modified 28 June 2016