Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue 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]

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