the young man who backs away from her. His second depiction of the scene
(today at the Pushkin Museum) appears even more somber, with both
figures fully dressed and the betrayed woman looking at a man who shame-
fully lowers his gaze. Paolo Finoglia (1590–1645), a colleague of Artemisia
for commissions in Naples and Madrid, dramatized the scene in deep
chiaroscuro, suggesting less a seduction than a negotiation between a
disheveled, self-righteous woman and a man reluctantly leaving her.
[Figure 18] Orazio depicted the subject within a biblical series he painted
for Henrietta Maria in the Italianate Queen’s House at Greenwich in 1630–1632.^100 [Figure 19] His rejection of Baroque dramaticism may indicate
subtle commentary on Artemisia’strial.^101 The partially nude woman,
wrapped in a blanket, reclines on the bed, holding Joseph’smantleinher
hand. He jauntily walks away, parting a suggestive red curtain. The lack of
dynamism in the scene transforms the woman’s seduction into her silence.
Despite her interest in depicting biblical women, Artemisia only attempted
the theme near the end of her life, indicated by a 1651 report of a half-
finished painting in her studio. Perhaps it hit too close to home.
Figure 17Guido Reni,Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife,oil on canvas,c.1630. The J. Paul
Getty Museum, 93.PA.57(^100) http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/405477/joseph-and-potiphars-wife
(^101) Christiansen, 2001 : 34.
262 The Transgressive Image