Susanna and the Elders

Description

March 28, 2009
Annibale Carracci was a transformational figure in the history of Italian painting: his works influenced many artists, including his younger contemporary Guercino, and inspired important developments in seventeenth-century Italian art. Annibale’s output as a printmaker was limited, but his prints nevertheless reveal a mastery of the medium that derives from his virtuosity as a draftsman. The scintillating evocation of atmosphere and the sophisticated orchestration of light and shadow in this print, perhaps his most beautiful and ambitious, reveal how Annibale could translate the creativity and spontaneity of his drawing into another medium.
Annibale chose to depict for this print an Old Testament heroine confronted by male authority, much as Guercino would for his painting of Esther and Ahasuerus roughly fifty years later. Rather than Esther daring to approach the king, however, Annibale represents the virtuous Susanna bathing in her garden, where she is accosted by two lecherous elders. One of the men leans over a fence toward Susanna as he propositions her, while his companion points to the town visible in the background, threatening to publicly accuse her of adultery should she reject their advances. Yet, like the gate that remains shut against the men in the print, Susanna guarded her virtue. The elders subsequently tried her for adultery, but the prophet Daniel intervened and exposed the wickedness of the elders, who were condemned to death.
Gallery Rotation Fall 2010:
Annibale Carracci
Italy, 1560–1609
Susanna and the Elders
circa 1590
Etching and engraving on paper
Gift of Jean Paul Slusser, 1959/1.125
Annibale Carracci was a transformational figure in the history of art. His merging of a vibrant naturalism with classicism and his innovative subject matter influenced many artists, including the young Guercino, whose painting Esther and Ahasuerus provides a centerpiece for this gallery. Much as Guercino would later depict the bravery of an Old Testament heroine in that painting, Annibale here portrays the virtuous Jewess Susanna bathing in her garden, where she is accosted by two lecherous elders. One of the men leans over a fence and propositions her, while his companion points to a nearby town, threatening to publicly accuse her of adultery should she reject their advances. Yet, like the gate that remains shut against the men, Susanna guards her virtue. The elders subsequently try her for adultery, but the prophet Daniel intervenes and exposes the wickedness of the elders, who are condemned to death.