Susanna and the Elders
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 222 x 214 cm h x w x d: Ram 236,5 x 231,5 x 8 cm
Inventory numberNM 596
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Gustaf III 1792)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Susanna och gubbarna Title (en): Susanna and the Elders
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 156: Technical notes: The painting’s original support, a large piece of medium-weight, tightly woven, plain weave, single-threaded fabric, has been lined. The original tacking edges have been cropped and the painting is attached to a non-original stretcher at the tacking edges of the lining fabric. No seams in the original fabric support could be detected on the surface of the painting, indicating an exceptional width larger than 3 ell (c. 210 cm). Pronounced cusping is present along the right edge only. The painting’s original size has been reduced by c. 3.0 cm along the top edge, and c. 2.0–2.5 cm along the left edge. The original fabric support was prepared with a thin white ground layer, probably containing chalk, applied with a priming knife. Paint was generally applied thinly in opaque and semi- transparent layers, more thickly and with vigorous brush marking in the ruddy flesh tones of the Elders, and with strong impastos and frequent “scumbling” in the brilliant white or bright yellow highlights, on Susanna’s white and red draperies, her blond strands of hair, her gold bracelet, the fountain’s cascading water, the plumage of the parrot, the metallic vessels at the lower right. Translucent deep red lake glazes were applied in the depths of the folds of Susanna’s red drapery and the pink robe of the Elder on the left. An opaque, cool-grey layer of underpaint, which serves as a base tone, is visible in several different areas of the painting, in the flesh tones, the red and pink garments and, partially, in the foreground with the metallic vessels on the right. The shaded areas of the smoothly blended pale pinkish white flesh tones of Susanna’s body were reinforced with a thin semi-transparent layer of grey mixed with a little red ochre, the outlines of the limbs partially strengthened with fine reddish-brown contour lines. The figures were executed first, beginning with Susanna and the Elders on the left, the garden ornaments and landscape background filled in afterwards. A minor pentimento is visible in Susanna’s bracelet. The painting is in relatively poor condition. The paint layers are heavily abraded overall. A tendency towards flaking occurs in large areas on the left, in the lower two-thirds of Elder’s pink robe, and the right, in the fountain basin and legs of the stone sculpture of Cupid. Extensive retouching covers flaked losses of the paint and ground lay- and some later reinforcement of contours, occur extensively in abraded areas of the figures and the left foreground. The red lake glazes applied in Susanna’s red drapery and the Elder’s pink robe now appear faded. The lead white of Susanna’s white drapery and pale flesh tones, as well as the Elder’s pink robe, have become increasingly transparent with age, so that the effect of the cool grey underpaint in these areas is more pronounced than was originally intended. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1838, 1868, 1869, 1926, 1958 and 1977. Provenance: Gustav III, no. 208; KM 1795, no. 14; KM 1816, no. 659. Exhibited: Stockholm 1977, no. 9 (as workshop of Rubens). Bibliography: Sander II, p. 122, no. 208; Göthe 1887, pp. 225–226 (as workshop of Rubens); Rooses I, pp. 167–168 (as copy of Rubens); Göthe 1893, p. 279 (as workshop of Rubens) ; Oldenbourg 1921, p. 98–99 (as copy of Rubens); Granberg 1931, p. 164; Lugt II 1949, p. 37, under no. 1130; NM Cat. 1958, p. 176; Maas 1974, pp. 68–70, 104–111; Bodart 1977, p. 102, under no. 211 (as school of Rubens); Cavalli-Björkman 1977, pp. 32–34 (as workshop of Rubens); NM Cat. 1990, p. 317; D’Hulst and Vandenven 1989, p. 214, no. 63 (as copy of Rubens). This painting has probably suffered from the repeated cleaning it has undergone, which finds particular expression in Susanna’s somewhat faded flesh tones. The composition is similar to that of a lost version of Susanna and the Elders by Rubens reflected in several paintings, one formerly in Sanssouci and in prints by Michel Lasne, Quirin Marcx and Paulus Pontius (Fig. 1).1 What they all share is the garden in the background with its classicizing architectural details and disciplined foliage. Almost certainly Rubens’ own garden has provided the model. One detail that constantly recurs in his painting is the fountain with a putto astride a dolphin. There are some differences between the Nationalmuseum’s version and the presumed original, however. The man with the cap is pulling off Susanna’s clothes with both hands and in the other versions he is laying one hand on her shoulder. In the Sanssouci version the grotto contains a singe satyr herm whereas here they are two. They are not placed in the grotto itself but at the entrance to the pergola. In the Nationalmuseum painting a parrot is depicted beside Susanna on the edge of the fountain. This is possibly an allusion to her chastity. However, the parrot does not occur in Pontius’ print or in any of the other numerous versions of the subject by Rubens. Presumably it is an addition by another hand. In Rubens’ early version of Susanna and the Elders in Stockholm from 1614 (no. 152 ) it is clear that her chastity is the central theme in the painting. In the lost composition and its other versions, however, the emphasis is placed on the rather aggressive Elders. As D’Hulst and Vandenven have pointed out, an iconographical shift has taken place. This is evident from the title of Pontius’ print of this version which is Turpe denilis Amor. Rubens was the first to involve the two Elders in the moral significance of the scene. GCB 1 D’Hulst and Vandenven no. 61, figs. 157, 159 and 160.[END]
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword
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