Name: WILLEM VAN MIERIS (LEIDEN 1662-1747)
Brand: Joseph and Potiphar's wife
Price: 160000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

WILLEM VAN MIERIS (LEIDEN 1662-1747)
Joseph and Potiphar's wife
signed and dated 'W. Van Mieris. / Fe. Ann. 1694' (lower right, on the base of the column)
oil on panel, marouflaged
17¹⁄₈ x 13¹⁄₂ in. (43.5 x 34.2 cm.)

Juda van Benjamin Sr., Smit, Amsterdam, 4 November 1782, lot 27.
with a French art dealer before 1842.
Anonymous sale; Hôtel des Ventes, Paris, 22 March 1845, lot 20.
Anonymous sale; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 27 April 1870, lot 104.
[Estate of Mr. Sigmund Wiener], H. Cubasch, Vienna, 16 February 1903, lot 37.
Sir Cuthbert Quilter (1873-1952), 2nd Baronet, Bawdsey Manor, Suffolk; his sale, Christie's, London, 26 June 1936, lot 36.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 23 July 1965, lot 15, where acquired by the following,
with Leger Galleries, London.
Sol Sardinsky (1967-2005), Philadelphia.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 25 January 2007, lot 436.
with Jack Kilgore & Co., New York, where acquired by the present owner.

J. Smith, Supplement of a catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, London, 1842, p. 65, no. 40.
C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke des hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jarhunderts, X, Stuttgart and Paris, 1928, p. 109, no. 9.

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Lot Essay

Willem van Mieris trained in the workshop of his father, the celebrated Liede fijnschilder (Leiden fine-painter), Frans van Mieris. Like Frans, Willem painted enamel-like surfaces and utilized dramatic reflections of light to enliven his compositions. Willem tended to focus more on religious subjects, staffed with figures in classical palatial settings, such as the one seen in the present work. The biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife was one of Willem's favored subjects, and one to which he returned on numerous occasions including the paintings in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. no. P163) and in the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (inv. no. 276). These latter works include a small dog, perhaps meant to be read as a symbol of Joseph's faith and fidelity and a reminder that those who can avoid the temptation of sin will ultimately be rewarded.