Susanna and the Elders

Francesco Hayez · ca. 1855
Oil on canvas
Milan, Italy - Private Collection
LDA · XXXIV · MMXXV

Source
Book · Pittura Lombarda dal Romanticismo alla Scapigliatura di Gustavo Predaval · Fratelli Fabbri Editori · 1967 · p. 28

Hayez depicts the biblical episode in which Susanna is accosted while bathing by two elders who later accuse her of adultery (punishable by death) when she rejects their demands. The composition places Susanna at the centre, her turned body and raised arm forming a defensive posture that articulates refusal. The two men enclose her physically and spatially, their gestures directed toward persuasion and coercion, in keeping with 19th-century visual conventions for this scene. The wooded backdrop separates the event from civic space, emphasising the vulnerability of the secluded setting. Later in the story, Daniel intervenes and exposes the elders’ contradiction during questioning, which saves Susanna and condemns the elders.

Reposting welcome; please credit Libreria d’Arte - Studio Soli.

Detail
Water’s edge - the shallow bank defining the boundary between privacy and exposure, marking the moment of interruption in the narrative

Detail
Hand on chin - a gesture of intrusion establishing the elder’s physical and argumentative pressure within the scene