7.900,00

Shipping cost to be agreed with the seller
Antiquities CASTELBARCO - Riva del Garda
Viale Giovanni Prati, 39
Riva del Garda (IT)
Contact the seller directly

Associate seller

Contact the seller directly
Epoca

Seventeenth century

Sizes

76 x 62 cm. - with frame 92 x 78 cm.

Description

Painter active in Rome in the early seventeenth century

Susanna and the elders

oil painting on canvas
76 x 62 cm. – with frame 92 x 78 cm.

Details of the work (click HERE)

This valuable painting illustrates the piquant episode, taken from the Old Testament (Daniel, XIII), in which the virtuous Susanna, married daughter of a rich Jew, is surprised by two elderly men, recently elected judges, while she is bathing in the garden of her palace. When she refuses to give in to the desires of the elders, they will denounce her with false accusations of adultery, but in the end they will be unmasked of their defamatory lies.

In this work the painter adheres to the typical figurative culture of the Italian sixteenth century, according to which the male characters come from the opposite side of the young woman who, in her energetic and contorted attitude, expresses modesty and dramatic fear, representing the division between righteousness and iniquity.

In the portrait, Susanna is wrapped in a draped white cloth, a symbol of her purity: she knows she has not committed adultery, but her face still shows us her fear of not being believed.

The iconographic theme of 'Susanna and the Elders', which apparently boasted moralistic intentions, became very fashionable in the Baroque period for its evident erotic implications, duly masked by its biblical origin, and for the intrinsic exaltation of marital fidelity and chastity. The representation of Susanna caught half-naked was therefore often a pretext to satisfy the desire of the patrons for female nude subjects.

The stylistic features and the heartfelt classicism with which the scene is conceived denote the execution by a capable author active in Rome around the middle of the seventeenth century. This historical moment, crucial for Italian painting, saw the papal city as an extraordinary crossroads of pictorial stimuli: on one side the Lombard painters with a host of artists inspired by Caravaggio's naturalism, but also foreigners, Flemish, French, Spanish, such as Rubens, Poussin or Ribera, and on the other the classicist painters from Bologna, first of all Annibale Carracci, but also Domenichino and Reni, continuators of the great tradition of Raphael.

It is therefore difficult to formulate a precise attribution, considering this extremely prolific and heterogeneous cultural environment: the structure of the composition recalls, albeit revisited, an invention by Annibale Carracci (https://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/stampe/schede/C0060-00345/), while if we focus on the individual figures, that of Susanna evokes the one conceived by Rubens (https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0800079030), while those of the two old men evoke the painting with the same subject by Guido Reni (https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0800079030).

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work sold is completed by a pleasant golden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and guarantee.

We take care of and organize the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers. It is also possible to see the painting in the gallery in Riva del Garda, we will be happy to welcome you to show you our collection of works.

Contact us, without obligation, for any additional information.

Follow us also on:

INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/galleriacastelbarco/?hl=it
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/galleriacastelbarco/

Insights

7.900,00

Shipping cost to be agreed with the seller
Antiquities CASTELBARCO - Riva del Garda
Viale Giovanni Prati, 39
Riva del Garda (IT)
Contact the seller directly

Associate seller

people

have viewed this article in the last 30 minutes.