King Candaules of Lydia Showing his Wife to Gyges (1646). Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, 1593-1678). Oil o
King Candaules of Lydia Showing his Wife to Gyges (1646). Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, 1593-1678). Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum.Boasting of his wife’s beauty, the Greek king Candaules secretly showed his naked wife to his courtier Gyges. This is the moment that the painting captures, but the scene has been relocated to a seventeenth-century milieu instead of Antiquity. The queen looks at us in a way that can be interpreted as both provocative and triumphant, as if to suggest the continuation of the story: in collusion with the Queen, Gyges murders the king and seizes the throne by her side. -- source link
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