Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

Balthasar Griessmann

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In Genesis 39, Joseph resists the advances of his master Potiphar's wife. The Old Testament story reverses the dynamic of familiar rape scenes while retaining the titillating contrast between a nude woman and a clothed male. Here, the figure's movements are confidently handled—the flying folds of his cloak and the strands of streaming hair emphasize Joseph's panicky retreat. Detail is focused less on the anatomical minutiae of the woman's sensuous body than on rendering her luxurious bedroom fittings and elaborate coiffure.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art