ARARPI0262378
Antique Painting Religious Subject Oil on Canvas XVI-XVII Century
Oil on canvas. The subject depicted tells a biblical episode from the Old Testament: Susanna, the beautiful and chaste wife of Joachim, a rich Jew, is threatened by two elderly judges of the people while she is bathing in her garden. This episode has been widely reproduced in art, as an opportunity to exalt female beauty and condemn sinful voluptuousness. In the scene, the female figure of Susanna, half-dressed, sits in the foreground on the left, on the balustrade of a gushing fountain in the garden, intent on immersing herself, but pointing with her hand to the two old men on the right, who are spying on her, hidden behind a bush. Unusual in the scene is the figure of the other woman, probably a maidservant of Susanna, also half-dressed, probably introduced to further exalt female nudity. In the background appears the garden of the villa, characterized by symmetrical and regular flower beds. Also peculiar is the presence, in the distance behind Susanna's head, of three stylized figures, who seem to run towards her, perhaps to warn her of danger. The work, in the first canvas, has a slight break in the upper left, and small spots of paint. It is presented in an early 1900's frame.