Two Intrusive Elders

Susanna_and_the_Elders by Guerrieri by the Italian painter Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri (1589-1655).

Peeping Old Men

Susanna and the Elders by the German painter Lovis Corinth (1858–1925).

Two Horny Old Men

Susanna and the Elders by the Italian painter Agostino Carracci (1557-1602). One is already climbing over the balustrade, a real work of action.

Kind of Bible Pin-Up

This magazine cover by the American pin-up painter Enoch Bolles (1883-1976) is obviously influenced by the older Susanna bathing paintings.

Susanna and the Elders

Susanna and the Elders by the Dutch painter Peter Wtewael (1596-1660).

Classical Susanna

Susanna and the Elders (1822) by the Russian Classical painter Petr Vasilievich Basin (1793-1877).

Susanna and the Elders

Susanna and the Elders (1610) by the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – c.1653).

Astonished Nude

Susanna and the Elders by the Italian Baroque painter Guido Cagnacci (1601-1663). Despite her nakedness Susanna doesn't look scared more surprised what these old guys may want from her.

Sweet Susanna

Susanna and the Elders (1751) by the Italian painter Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (1708-1787). It’s mostly a a neoclassical painting with a strong rococo influence – i.e. the sweet surprised girl.

Mannerist Susanna

Susanna and the Elders by the Italian painter Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori (1535-1607).
As a good Mannerist artist Allori shows above all what he is capable of. There are strange movements, packed action and not least a perfect body.
I especially like her little dog which is defending its mistress.

Not so Shy Susanna

Susanna by the Italian painter Francesco Hayez (1791-1882)

Suanna doesn’t look very surprised, quite the contrary she’s kind of presenting herself. She turns to the onlooker making clear that he’s the voyeur.

Renaissance Girl

Susanna and the Elders by the Italian Renaissance painter Bernardino Luini (c. 1480/82-1532).

Luini came from Leonardo's circle and it’s easy to see how with the Italian Renaissance started a new era in art. Realistic faces like this were impossible even in late medieval art.

Another Nude Susanna

Susannah at her bath (1874) by the French painter Hugues Merle (1823-1881).

Merle was a student of Léon Cogniet; and a friend of William Bouguereau. So he’s typical for that perfect academic style in the second half of the 19th century. Normally he painted sentimental and moral subjects from literature and history. His Susanna here was a good opportunity to show a beautiful nude girl. That she looks more like a French girl of that time wasn’t a problem, probably it helped selling the painting.

Susanna Surprised

Susanna surprised by the Elders (ca.1913) by the German painter Franz von Stuck (1863-1928). That painted several variations of that subject. It seems that he liked the scene of the surprised young women and the two horny old men.

Neo Medieval Susanna

Susanna and the Elders (1920) by the German symbolist painter Theodor Baierl (1881-1932). Baierl who studied under Franz von Stuck was great admirer of late medieval art, above all that of the Quattrocento. So he didn’t present his Susanna in a historical and oriental look which was so fashionable in the 19th century. The costumes in his painting are medieval and a kind of fairy tale like.

Art Deco Susanna

Susanna bathing by the Polish Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980).

Lempicka was a great star of the art scene in the 1920s and 1930s. Her Susanna is a modern woman of the 1930s and there is absolutely no sign of historicization.

Renaissance Architecture

Susanna at Her Bath (1526) by the German Renaissance Painter Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480–1538).

Just as most of his contemporaries Altdorfer painted normally religious scenes, but probably he was much more interested in landscapes which in many cases dominated his compositions.

This painting is similar, there is an impressive castle and big trees and a turbulent sky. The figures seemed to be toys. In the foreground there is Susanna washing her feet. And on the left hidden in the bushes are the two elders peeping. So the whole story is present, but the real interesting things are without any doubt the castle and the sky.

Victorian Nude

Frederick Goodall (1822-1904) was like Alma-Tadema an English Victorian painter. He was specialized in orientalist paintings but did also biblical and historical subjects. His Susanna here seems to me as a cheap excuse to paint and sell a nude in Victorian England.

Susanna (1886)

Susanna and the Elders

Once more Susanna and the Elders. Here by the French painter Jacques Stella (1596-1657).

Actually it’s the typical nude Susanna painting, with the two old horny guys and the chaste woman, who is exposed to the art viewer. Much more interesting is therefore the classical architecture which was something new in Stella’s time. During a longer stay in Rome Stella became a close friend to Nicolas Poussin by whom he was strongly influenced, so that after his death his paintings were often sold as works by Poussin.

The Chaste Susanna

This Susanna from about 1865 is by the French academic painter Jean Jacques Henner (1829-1905).

It’s one more of these typical neoclassic Susanna paintings, which concentrates on the nude female body. Even the elders are nearly hidden in the darkness of the background.