Duncan Grant’s Joseph before Potiphar’s Wife (1950) reflects on the Old Masters, transforming traditional composition and subject into a modern interpretation. Alongside his training at the Slade and Westminster School of Art (1902–05), Grant spent a year at the Académie de la Palette (1906–07), which grounded its students in the “conciliation between freedom and respect for tradition,” a goal which this painting fulfils forty years later. A pivotal figure of the Bloomsbury Group, Grant employs a Post-Impressionist manner, focusing on shading and tones of colour to bring a classical narrative to life in a fresh way. Your eye is drawn from the empty space in the lower right, over the figures of Potiphar’s wife reclining on a chaise longue and the attendants below, up to the night sky visible through the window, conveying a subtle sense of longing. Joseph stands prominently in a rich gold-and-red robe, modelled on Paul Roche, Grant’s muse, model, and lover, his upright posture emphasising self-control and moral integrity. The richly decorated room, with diamond-patterned walls, reflects Grant’s interest in textiles, while the placement and gestures of the figures communicate hierarchy and emotional nuance of the subject matter. This work stands as a late masterpiece of Grant’s career, combining emotional depth compositional brilliance qualities - that secure its place in the canon of modern British art.