Susanna

Susanna comes from the Book of Daniel. A young wife bathes in her garden while two elders, respected men of the town, spy on her and threaten to accuse her of adultery unless she gives in to them. Venice painted the story over and over, partly because a lesson about false witness also allowed a large nude in the middle of it. This canvas is by Domenico, the son of Jacopo Tintoretto, painted in the last decades of the 16th century as the son was taking over his father's busy Venice workshop and keeping it turning out portraits and altarpieces for the city. It came to Washington through Samuel Kress, the store magnate whose Italian paintings formed the core of the National Gallery.