Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Robert Vernon
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-etty-172" aria-label="More by William Etty" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Etty</a>
Candaules King Lydia Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges One his Ministers as She Goes to Bed
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
architecture
bed
bedroom
Candaules, King of Lydia
Candaules, Nyssia and Gyges, circa 718 BC
classical
classical
curtain
domestic
female
furnishings
Gyges
history
individuals: female
individuals: male
interiors
king
looking / watching
male
man
named individuals
nudes
Nyssia, Queen of Lydia
objects
people
periods and styles
portraits
queen
reclining
royalty and social rank
standing
woman
work and occupations
<p>The Lydian king, Candaules, had arranged for his general, Gyges, to view his wife, Nyssia, as she undressed. The furious queen offered Gyges the choice of being executed or murdering her husband. Gyges chose the latter, and went on to marry her.Etty here subverts the language of neo-classical history painting. Instead of improving themes, Etty uses it for an erotic subject of voyeurism and vengeance. He emphasises colour and texture rather than outline, and treats physical beauty as the object of lust and deception. His picture typified the Romantic challenge to moral and pictorial conventions.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
1 November 2001 – 31 August 2003
2003-08-31
6 September 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
2002-09-06
Brooklyn Museum of Art (New York, USA)
2001-11-01
Exposed: The Victorian Nude
Exhibition
6 February 2003 – 4 January 2004
2004-01-04
6 February 2003 – 11 May 2003
2003-05-11
2003-02-06
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
8 June 2003 – 7 September 2003
2003-09-07
2003-06-08
Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, USA)
2003-02-06
Constable to Delacroix: British Art and the French Romantics 1820 - 1840
Exhibition
25 October 2008 – 15 February 2009
2009-02-15
25 October 2008 – 15 February 2009
2009-02-15
2008-10-25
Museum Kunstpalast (Düsseldorf, Germany)
21 March 2009 – 31 May 2009
2009-05-31
2009-03-21
Compton Verney (Compton Verney, UK)
2008-10-25
Diana and Actaion - The Forbidden Sight of Nudity
Loan-out
29 July 2010 – 14 March 2011
2011-03-14
6 August 2010 – 14 March 2011
2011-03-14
2010-08-06
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-07-29
Romantics 2
Collection based display
23 June 2011 – 20 January 2012
2012-01-20
23 June 2011 – 20 January 2012
2012-01-20
2011-06-23
York Art Gallery (York, UK)
http://www.york.art.museum
2011-06-23
William Etty: Art and Controversy
Loan-out
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
5 November 2016 – 5 February 2017
2017-02-05
2016-11-05
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
18 March 2017 – 16 July 2017
2017-07-16
2017-03-18
Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand)
11 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
2018-02-04
2017-08-11
Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
24 March 2018 – 24 June 2018
2018-06-24
2018-03-24
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
13 July 2018 – 28 October 2018
2018-10-28
2018-07-13
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
10 November 2023 – 14 April 2024
2024-04-14
2023-11-10
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
1 April 2025 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
2025-04-01
External
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed
support: 451 × 559 mm
frame: 700 × 805 × 120 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999978" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Robert Vernon</a> 1847
<p>The Lydian king, Candaules, had arranged for his general, Gyges, to view his wife, Nyssia, as she undressed. The furious queen offered Gyges the choice of being executed or murdering her husband. Gyges chose the latter, and went on to marry her.Etty here subverts the language of neo-classical history painting. Instead of improving themes, Etty uses it for an erotic subject of voyeurism and vengeance. He emphasises colour and texture rather than outline, and treats physical beauty as the object of lust and deception. His picture typified the Romantic challenge to moral and pictorial conventions.</p>

Display caption
2007-05-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults architecture bed bedroom Candaules, King of Lydia Candaules, Nyssia and Gyges, circa 718 BC classical classical curtain domestic female furnishings Gyges history individuals: female individuals: male interiors king looking / watching male man named individuals nudes Nyssia, Queen of Lydia objects people periods and styles portraits queen reclining royalty and social rank standing woman work and occupations