Amnon e Tamar (1649-1650)

Guercino (1591-1666)

Amnon e Tamar (Amnon and Tamar)
16491650
Oil on canvas, 123 x 158.5 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Shown from the thighs up, a light-skinned man and woman gesture dramatically, partially covered only by colorful lengths of loosely draped fabric in this horizontal painting. To our left, the man stands with his lean, muscled body facing us but he turns his face to our right in profile to look at the woman with his chin dropped. His thick, dark hair is brushed back. He has a long, straight nose and his lips are parted. His left arm, on our right, is raised to shoulder height, elbow pointed out at the woman, and that hand is clenched in a fist in front of his chest. His other arm is slightly bent at his side, that hand also balled into a fist. A narrow, vivid cobalt-blue cloth winds and flutters around his body from behind him to our left, over the raised arm, and across his hips. To our right, the woman stands with her back to the man, and she looks back over her right shoulder. Her copper-red hair blows back from her face, lifting off her shoulders. She has light brown eyes under lowered brows, and the corners of her pink lips are pulled slightly down. She wears a teardrop-shaped pearl earring from the ear we can see and a headdress wrapped with more pearls at the back of her head. Her body is pale, soft, and rounded. Her arms bend at the elbows to cross in an X-shape in front of her bare breasts. With her left hand, closer to the man, she points an index finger at him. Around her body swirl two layers of satiny draperies, the outer one a honey orange, and an inner layer in dusty pink. Both people are lit from our right brightly enough to create deep shadows. Behind them, a bed at hip height has ivory-colored linens and a dark green drapery hanging to each side. The space recedes into darkness beyond the bed, contrasting with the brightness of the people. (NGA)