The famous episode of Susanna—which in Venetian painting had been revived by Jacopo Tintoretto with a few paintings around 1560—is narrated in the Book of Daniel. The young woman, caught by surprise during a bath by two men, rejected their advances and, unfairly accused, was eventually rescued by a providential intervention of Daniel. Palma’s great storytelling ability emerges clearly in this canvas. He deploys the episode on various receding planes, focusing on the curvaceous central nude of Susanna backed by a maid, while the two elders hide behind a tree—a detail not devoid of a certain humor.
Details