Susannah and the Elders

Massimo Stanzione's Susannah and the Elders, painted around 1645, depicts the apocryphal story from the Book of Daniel in which the virtuous Susannah is falsely accused by two elders who attempted to seduce her while bathing. The story presented Baroque painters with a delicate combination of moral allegory and the opportunity to paint the female nude in a narratively justified context, making it one of the most frequently treated subjects in the period. Stanzione was the leading Neapolitan painter of his generation — sometimes called the "Neapolitan Reni" for his elegant classicism — working in the tradition established by Caravaggio in Naples while also absorbing the refined, luminous style of Guido Reni. The Joslyn Art Museum's Susannah is among the finest examples of his mature work in American collections.

Stanzione's characteristic elegance is evident in the graceful, idealized figure of Susannah, whose pale, luminous flesh is rendered with the polished surface technique he learned from the Bolognese tradition. The two elders are depicted with more realistic, aged character study. Compositional tension is created by the contrast between Susannah's exposed vulnerability and the intrusive presence of the men.