Joseph and Potiphar's Wife
Miniature
1727 (made)
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 | |
Title | Joseph 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 |
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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 |
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Collection | |
Accession number | P.51-1955 |
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Record created | June 30, 2009 |
Record URL |
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