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Susanna and the Elders

Luca Giordano

  • Susanna and the Elders 2
  • Susanna and the Elders 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-57
Author
Luca Giordano
Name
Susanna and the Elders
Technique
oil painting
Material
duplicated canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
84 x 106
Additionally
Type
painting
Genre
religious
Plot
Susanna and the Elders
Provenance
the Lubomirski collection
Exposition
Potocki Palace
Information about author
Author
Luca Giordano
Artist's lifetime
1634–1705
Country
Italy
Biography
Luca Giordano (1634–1705) was an Italian artist and representative of the Neapolitan school. He studied under Jose de Ribera and Pietro da Cortona, whose influences can be seen in the painter's early works. The artist travelled from Naples to Bologna, Paris, Florence, and Venice. In 1692, King Charles II invited Luca Giordano to Spain, where he worked in the Escorial, the Royal Palace, and the Church of St. Anthony in Madrid. Being one of the outstanding masters of the Baroque era, the artist developed a temperamental, decorative, and spectacular style of painting, which ensured his success with numerous customers in various places throughout Western Europe. The peculiarity of Luca Giordano's canvases was the combination of real and fantasy images, spatial freedom of composition, textural expressiveness, a broad brushstroke in the manner of alla prima, and unrestrained brightness or sienna-umber depth of colours. In the later period of his oeuvre, he developed a more decorative and light artistic language, later admired by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. It is no coincidence that Luca Giordano is called "proto-Tiepolo", given that the last one paved the way for rocaille painting in Italy. Hardworking and gifted with a rich imagination, the artist painted exceptionally quickly, which affected the quality of the works in many cases.
Object description
In the painting, Luca Giordano illustrated an episode from the apocryphal addition to the Old Testament Book of Daniel. It is the story of two lecherous elders who lusted after Susanna, a beautiful young woman. They hid in the garden where she had come to bathe and threatened to accuse her of adultery, a crime punishable by death if she refused to submit to their desires. The painting portrays the moment when Susanna is undressing, and the men approach and address her. Susanna looks shocked and tries to cover her breasts with her hand. She was a virtuous wife and rejected the advances of the men, who then carried out their threat. Later, she was accused of adultery, but her innocence was proven when her accusers were subjected to cross-examination and caught in a lie. The shades of the male figures are of a dark earthy colour, almost identical to their robes, which starkly contrasts with the pale cream hue of Susanna's skin. The bright paleness of the woman's body might imply her innocence and purity. This theme was popular among commissioners, as it offered a justification for depicting a partially clothed female figure that could be openly admired.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

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