Susanna and the Elders

Artemisia Gentileschi painted the story of Susanna more than once across her career, and this is a late version, made around 1649 when she was in her mid-50s and working in Naples. The tale comes from the Book of Daniel, two powerful old men corner a young wife bathing in her garden and threaten to accuse her of adultery unless she gives in to them. Her very first surviving painting, done when she was about 17, had shown Susanna twisting away in raw distress. Here, decades on, she takes a calmer, more conventional line, Susanna lifting her eyes to heaven for help while the elders scheme in the shadows. She signed and dated the picture on the stone balustrade at the right. It is one of the last works securely tied to her hand.