Full title | Susannah and the Elders |
---|---|
Artist | Guido Reni |
Artist dates | 1575 - 1642 |
Series | Two Biblical Scenes from Palazzo Lancellotti |
Date made | 1620-5 |
Medium and support | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 116.6 x 150.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1844 |
Inventory number | NG196 |
Location | Room 32 |
Art route(s) | B |
Collection | Main Collection |
An apocryphal addition to the Old Testament describes how two lecherous elders threatened to accuse Susannah, a beautiful young woman, of adultery – a crime punishable by death – if she did not give in to their desires. Guido Reni here illustrates the episode: one man grabs at Susannah’s robes and puts his fingers to his lips, commanding her silence, while the other raises a hand, ready to touch her. She grasps at her drapery, attempting to cover her breasts.
This painting hung in the Palazzo Lancellotti, Rome, in 1640, alongside Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom, also now in the National Gallery’s collection. Given that the paintings are of a similar size, it was believed for some time that they were created as companion pieces. However, cleaning in 1984 revealed brushwork that suggests different dates for the works – Susannah and the Elders was painted later than Lot and his Daughters and the two were likely not originally intended as a pair.
Here, Guido Reni has illustrated an episode from an apocryphal addition to the Old Testament’s Book of Daniel. The account tells of two lecherous elders who lusted after Susannah, a beautiful young woman. They hid in the garden where she came to bathe and threatened to accuse her of adultery – a crime punishable by death – if she refused to give in to their desires.
We see the moment when Susannah begins to undress and the men emerge and accost her. One grabs at her robe and puts his fingers to his lips, commanding her silence, while the other raises a hand, ready to touch her. Susannah looks on in shock and grasps at the yellow drapery around her, attempting to cover her breasts. A virtuous wife, she refused the men’s advances and they carried out their threat. She was later arrested for the crime of adultery, but her innocence was proven when the false accusers were cross-examined and caught in their lie.
The flesh tints of the male figures are a deep earthy orange colour (almost matching their robes), contrasting greatly with the pale, creamy hue of Susannah’s body. The varying skin tones may be a rhetorical device used by Reni: Susannah’s bright paleness could allude to her innocence and purity, while the ruddy complexions of the men may reflect their lecherous intentions.
In the 1590s Reni studied at the Carraccis‘ artists’ academy in Bologna. Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Reni’s biographer, relates that Ludovico Carracci, the eldest of the three Carracci painters, was instrumental in Reni’s training. Ludovico painted his own version of the subject around a decade before Reni completed his work. Though the two compositions appear in different formats, they share several similarities: in both, Susannah is on the right, pulling her robes from the grasp of one of the men, while they lean across a stone parapet on the left, dressed in red and orange draperies. The same variation in flesh tones is also apparent in Ludovico’s painting, suggesting that Reni may have taken inspiration from the work of his former master in the creation of his own Susannah and the Elders.
This painting hung in the Palazzo Lancellotti, Rome, in 1640, alongside Lot and his Daughters leaving Sodom. It was believed for some time that these paintings were created as pendants, as they are similar in size and each addresses an Old Testament subject with erotic undertones. However, cleaning in 1984 revealed brushwork that suggests different dates for the works – Susannah and the Elders was painted later than Lot and his Daughters and the two were likely not originally intended as a pair.
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Two Biblical Scenes from Palazzo Lancellotti
Lot and his Daughters Leaving Sodom and Susannah and the Elders are two works by Guido Reni, both of which depict biblical scenes containing three figures. They are of similar size, and are painted in a horizontal format with dark backgrounds. The two were first recorded in the Palazzo Lancellotti, Rome, in 1640, where they hung together as companion pieces until they were respectively acquired by the National Gallery in 1844.
Upon their acquisition the works were considered to be a pair, given their similarly moralising subject matter, size, and location in the Palazzo Lancellotti. However, cleaning revealed brushwork that suggests the paintings were created in different periods of Reni’s career, and were not made to hang together.
Because the two Old Testament subjects illustrate feminine vice and virtue, the pairing would seem to be deliberate. It’s possible that Reni painted Susannah and the Elders to accompany his earlier work, but it’s similarly plausible that the pairing was made by a collector much later.
Lot and his Daughters Leaving Sodom and Susannah and the Elders are two works by Guido Reni, both of which depict biblical scenes containing three figures. They are of similar size, and are painted in a horizontal format with dark backgrounds. The two were first recorded in the Palazzo Lancellotti, Rome, in 1640, where they hung together as pendants until they were respectively acquired by the National Gallery in 1844. Their earlier histories are unknown.
Upon their acquisition the works were considered to be a pair, given their similarly moralising subject matter, size, and location in the Palazzo Lancellotti. However, cleaning revealed brushwork that suggests the paintings were created in different periods of Reni’s career, and were not made to hang together. Lot and His Daughters leaving Sodom has been dated to about 1615–16; the sculptural quality of the figures and the careful brushwork with which they are rendered is illustrative of Reni’s style in the immediate aftermath of over a decade working in Rome. Susannah and the Elders is believed to have been painted almost a decade later, between 1620 and 1625, evidenced by its considerably looser handling of paint and visible brushstrokes.
Because the two Old Testament subjects illustrate feminine vice and virtue, the pairing would seem to be deliberate. It’s possible that Reni painted Susannah and the Elders to accompany his earlier work, but it’s similarly plausible that the pairing was made by a collector much later.


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