(Milan 1619–1703)
The Story of Tamar and Judah,
oil on canvas, 149 x 179 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibily Oligati, Giovio collection

We are grateful to Filippo Maria Ferro for suggesting the attribution and for his help in cataloguing the present painting.

The Nuvolone family specialised in the narration of Biblical subjects. Here, Giuseppe takes the story of Tamar and Judah from Genesis, Book 38. The painting celebrates the figure of Tamar who married the first son of Judah, Er. In accordance with the law, when Er died, she married his brother Onan, who in turn was punished by God for refusing to procreate. Judah, being convinced that Tamar was responsible for the death of his two sons, resisted giving her as bride to his third son, Sela. Tamar therefore disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced Judah. In compensation he promised her a goat, and meanwhile left his staff, cord and signet ring as his pledge to her.

The event depicted is the meeting between Tamar and Judah. She awaits him on the road to Timnah attracting him with her disguise; from their union she had the twins Perez (from whom Christ would descend) and Zerah. When Judah later condemned her, Tamar revealed herself by producing the personal objects she had in pledge from him. Judah is then forced to admit that ‘She is more just than I.’

This complex story, which is dominated by the fact that the Canaanite Tamar finds herself obliged to seduce her father-in-law and risk everything for reasons of genealogy, has parallels to other unconventional relationships in the Bible: the incest between Lot and his daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, or the equally fateful passions of David and Bathsheba, or the singular union between Ruth the Moabite and Boaz. All these somehow problematic encounters ostensibly ensured the continuity of lineage across generations according to divine will. Such subjects were especially popular with a social class that faced dynastic worries.

Giuseppe Nuvolone interprets the present theme in a manner that parallels other European works on the subject, especially those of Rembrandt and his studio and Arent de Gelder, who treated this theme on several occasions, always choosing the moment of seduction. Tamar is veiled as she reveals a breast, a device that the artist had already tried out in his painting with the courtesan tempting Saint Francis at the Sacro Monte d’Orta. Judah approaches, both attracted and uncertain. The staff asked for by Tamar as a pledge emblematically seals the union. In the background, the shepherd intended to bring her the agreed-upon goat, is shown with his flock.

The palette in this work is striking: contrasting yellow and azure for Tamar, while Judah’s elegant clothing emanates a sensual languor.

The present work dates from Giuseppe Nuvolone´s full maturity, at the height of his success dating from the years 1670-80 (see F. M. Ferro, Nuvolone/una famiglia di pittori nella Milano del ‘600, Soncino 2003, pp. 239-241, Cats. 17-27 and pp. 274-275, and cat. no. G 156 – G. 161; F. Frangi, ‘Nuvolone, Giuseppe’, in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, volume 79, Rome 2013; F. M. Ferro, Giuseppe Nuvolone/Gesù e l’adultera, presentation at Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, V. Sgarbi, ‘Le Anime purganti di due fratelli inseparabili’, in: Sette – Corriere della Sera, 8th July 2016). His mastery as a pictoral narrator, is demonstrated as he reveals the most complex biblical events as if they were everyday moments. The present painting may be identifiable as a canvas from the Olgiati (later Giovio) collection, where the inventory lists a picture given to Nuvolone as ‘una scena di seduzione di cui parlano le sacre scritture’ [‘a scene of seduction spoken of in the sacred scriptures’] (see: C. Geddo, in: F. M. Ferro, op. cit., 2003, p. 295, 20).