Joseph and Potiphar's Wife thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case RMC, Shelf 6, Box 5

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

Miniature
1727 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Sarah Stanley (born Sloane, ca. 1709-1764) was the eldest daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, the seventeenth-century physician and collector whose large collection formed the basis of the British Museum and the Natural History Museum. Sloane travelled to Jamaica and eventually married Elizabeth Langley Rose, the heiress to a Jamaican plantation, in 1695. Their fortune from Jamaica funded Sloane’s collecting. Sarah would have grown up in Sloane’s home, which was filled with art, plants, gemstones, coins, antiquities, and other curiosities and gave her unparalleled access to works of art. She began copying works in Sloane’s collection as a teenager—including portraits by Rosalba Carriera and Hilliard’s Unknown Man Clasping A Hand From A Cloud, now in the collection of the V&A. Her style suggests Stanley may have taken further lessons with the miniature painter Bernard Lens. This miniature was most likely painted after a version of Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife by Carlo Cignani or someone in his circle.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleJoseph and Potiphar's Wife (generic title)
Materials and techniques
On vellum strained on oak panel
Brief description
Miniature, 'Joseph and Potiphar's Wife,' by Sarah Stanley (born Sloane) after (circle of) Carlo Cignani, watercolour on vellum strained on oak panel, 1727
Physical description
Miniature painting on vellum strained on oak panel depicting a scene in which Potiphar's wife, on the left with her breasts exposed, attempts to seduce Joseph, who is on the right and is rejecting her advances
Dimensions
  • Height: 17.8cm
  • Width: 22.9cm
Taken from Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1955-1956 London: HMSO 1963
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'Sarah Stanly: Fecit: 1727' (Signed and dated)
Object history
Part of Lot 1307 on the fourth day's sale (13 July 1955) at Paultons, Hants, formerly the property of Major R. C. Hans Sloane Stanley, a descendant of the artist who was herself the elder daughter of Sir Hans Sloane Bt., and married George Stanley in 1719. The sale also included portraits, drawings, and needlework by Stanley, including possibly a copy after Hilliard's Man Clutching a Hand in the Clouds (P.21-1942), a version of which was in Sloane's possession.
Subjects depicted
Associations
Summary
Sarah Stanley (born Sloane, ca. 1709-1764) was the eldest daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, the seventeenth-century physician and collector whose large collection formed the basis of the British Museum and the Natural History Museum. Sloane travelled to Jamaica and eventually married Elizabeth Langley Rose, the heiress to a Jamaican plantation, in 1695. Their fortune from Jamaica funded Sloane’s collecting. Sarah would have grown up in Sloane’s home, which was filled with art, plants, gemstones, coins, antiquities, and other curiosities and gave her unparalleled access to works of art. She began copying works in Sloane’s collection as a teenager—including portraits by Rosalba Carriera and Hilliard’s Unknown Man Clasping A Hand From A Cloud, now in the collection of the V&A. Her style suggests Stanley may have taken further lessons with the miniature painter Bernard Lens. This miniature was most likely painted after a version of Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife by Carlo Cignani or someone in his circle.
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1955-1956 London: HMSO, 1963
  • Kim Sloan, Amateur Artists and Drawing Masters c. 1600-1800, London: British Museum Publications, 1999
Collection
Accession number
P.51-1955

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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