Boasting of his wife’s beauty, the Greek king Candaules secretly showed his naked wife to his courtier Gyges. This is the moment captured by the painting, but the scene has been relocated to a 17th century milieu instead of Antiquity. The queen looks at us in a way that can be interpreted as both provocative and triumphant. In collusion with the Queen, Gyges murders the king and seizes the throne by her side.