Gallery LabelThe subject of the picture, previously identified as Tarquin and Lucretia, seems rather to show Tamar being raped by her brother, Amnon. According to II Samuel 13:1–22, Amnon, a son of David, fell in love with his sister Tamar. With a friend he conceived of a ruse whereby he feigned illness and requested that his sister attend him. When alone, he turned on her and raped her. Overcome with revulsion for what he had done, he then had her expulsed from the bedchamber. Their brother, Absalom, discovered the deed and had Amnon slain.

The picture was painted by Le Sueur when he was still deeply influenced by his teacher, Simon Vouet, and it probably dates from about 1640. Such details as the richly brocaded curtain and the elaborate gold urn in the background were, indeed, standard props in Vouet's paintings. Le Sueur was later to work in the Hôtel Lambert in Paris, designed by Le Vau, but this picture suggests that he was already familiar with details of Le Vau's architectural vocabulary.

ProvenanceNourri, Paris (his sale, Paris, February 24, 1785, no. 104, as by Eustache Le Sueur "fait dans l'école de Vouet. . . une composition de trois figures dans un intérieur enrichi d'architecture; l'on voit sur le devant une femme assise à qui un soldat presente une coupe d'une main, et tient de l'autre un poignard; 71 pouces de haut sur 57 pouces 6 lignes de large"; for 400 Livres to Folliot); private collection (until 1983; sale, Christie's, London, December 2, 1983, no. 45, as "Tarquin and Lucretia" by the circle of Simon Vouet; for £108,000 to Stair Sainty Matthiesen); [Stair Sainty Matthiesen, New York, 1983–84; sold to MMA]