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Joseph and Potiphar's wife (?)

Manuscript Cutting
ca. 1900 (illuminated), 14th century-15th century (written)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The Spanish Forger was a skillful and prolific forger, who capitalised on the fashion for collecting medieval panel paintings and illuminated manuscripts, which was widespread in Europe and the United States between the mid-nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. His distinctive repertory of sweet faced figures set against a background of steep hills and castles derived from the study of illustrated books on the Middle Ages. His work was exposed as that of a forger in the 1930s, on the basis of a panel formerly attributed to the fifteenth century Spanish painter Jorge Inglés. This association provided the name of convenience by which he is still known, although it is generally believed that he was active in Paris in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

This is one of a group of five or six miniatures of similar size and borders, painted on the back of cuttings from a text page of an Italian choir book of fifteenth or sixteenth century date. It depicts Joseph and Potiphar’s wife; a biblical subject taken from the Genesis (39-2). Joseph is shown kneeling in the centre, while two figures behind take off his cloak. He gestures to the figure of Potiphar’s wife who sits on a throne to the left. This grouping is unlike other depictions of the subject, which show Joseph alone with Portiphar’s wife in a bedroom while she removes his cloak and tries to seduce him. The costume of the figures is reminiscent of Franco-Flemish manuscripts from about 1400. However the combination of figures in graceful poses to create a scene that does not follow its previous iconography is a principal reason why the works of the Spanish Forger are readily identifiable as fakes.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleJoseph and Potiphar's wife (?) (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Miniature of Joseph and Potiphar's wife (?) painted on a manuscript cutting from a medieval Italian antiphonary, attributed to the 'Spanish Forger', Paris (?), ca. 1900.
Physical description
Miniature painted ca.1900 in France on a piece of parchment cut from a 14th- or 15th- century Italian antiphonary (a type of choir book).
Dimensions
  • Painting height: 20.5cm
  • Painting width: 14.5cm
Production typeUnique
Credit line
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2008
Object history
Part of a group of five miniatures sharing the same provenance (E.527-2008 to E.531-2008) and acquired at the same time. All miniatures were painted on cuttings from the same 14th or 15th-century Italian antiphonary.
Collection of Mr. Brown (d. ca.1925), Switzerland; inherited by his wife; bequeathed to Maria Teweles, Twentynine Palms, California; Mr Kerrison Preston, Surrey, England; collection of Jean F. Preston, Princeton (in 1978).
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2008.
Other miniatures from the same series in other collections: formerly Hartman Galleries, Ltd, Beverly Hills (Rebecca at the well; see The Spanish Forger, 1978, no. L10, fig. 189).
Summary
The Spanish Forger was a skillful and prolific forger, who capitalised on the fashion for collecting medieval panel paintings and illuminated manuscripts, which was widespread in Europe and the United States between the mid-nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. His distinctive repertory of sweet faced figures set against a background of steep hills and castles derived from the study of illustrated books on the Middle Ages. His work was exposed as that of a forger in the 1930s, on the basis of a panel formerly attributed to the fifteenth century Spanish painter Jorge Inglés. This association provided the name of convenience by which he is still known, although it is generally believed that he was active in Paris in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

This is one of a group of five or six miniatures of similar size and borders, painted on the back of cuttings from a text page of an Italian choir book of fifteenth or sixteenth century date. It depicts Joseph and Potiphar’s wife; a biblical subject taken from the Genesis (39-2). Joseph is shown kneeling in the centre, while two figures behind take off his cloak. He gestures to the figure of Potiphar’s wife who sits on a throne to the left. This grouping is unlike other depictions of the subject, which show Joseph alone with Portiphar’s wife in a bedroom while she removes his cloak and tries to seduce him. The costume of the figures is reminiscent of Franco-Flemish manuscripts from about 1400. However the combination of figures in graceful poses to create a scene that does not follow its previous iconography is a principal reason why the works of the Spanish Forger are readily identifiable as fakes.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Voelkle, W., The Spanish Forger, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1978. no. L66, fig. 185.
  • Burgio, L., Clark, R.J.H. and Hark, R.R., 'Spectroscopic investigation of modern pigments on purportedly medieval miniatures by the ‘Spanish Forger', in Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, vol 40 (2009). pp. 2031-2036.
Collection
Accession number
E.531-2008

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Record createdJune 27, 2008
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