Jozef en de vrouw van Potifar - Gesina ter Borch

A seventeenth-century Dutch illustration by Gesina ter Borch depicting the biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, rendered in ink and watercolour.

This illustration originates from the personal album of Gesina ter Borch, a Dutch artist active during the seventeenth century. The work depicts the biblical narrative of Joseph fleeing from the advances of Potiphar's wife. Ter Borch presents the scene with a characteristic economy of line, focusing on the dramatic gesture of Joseph as he pulls away from the seated figure. The composition is integrated directly into a page of manuscript text, reflecting the common practice of combining poetry and visual narrative within private albums of the period.

The figures are rendered with delicate watercolour washes, showing the artist's attention to the costume details of the era. Joseph is shown in a dynamic pose, his body angled away from the woman who remains seated in a chair, her hand reaching out to grasp his cloak. This specific moment of tension is captured with a sense of theatricality that aligns with the broader artistic interests of the Ter Borch family. The surrounding text, written in a formal hand, provides the moralising context for the image, framing the biblical story within the cultural values of the Dutch Golden Age.

Gesina ter Borch was a prolific draughtswoman, and her albums provide a rare insight into the domestic and intellectual life of a woman artist in the Netherlands. Her work often blends personal reflection with historical and religious themes. This piece demonstrates her ability to combine calligraphic skill with narrative illustration, creating a balanced page where the written word and the visual image inform one another. The preservation of these albums allows for an analysis of how seventeenth-century artists engaged with literature and morality through their own creative output, offering a glimpse into the private artistic practices of the time.