Life of Susannah
Francesco Pesellino·1450
Historical Context
Life of Susannah, painted around 1450 and held at the Musée du Petit Palais in Avignon, illustrates the story of the virtuous Susannah from the deuterocanonical book of Daniel—a narrative of attempted sexual coercion and providential rescue that carried ongoing relevance as a story of feminine virtue threatened and vindicated. Cassone paintings of the Life of Susannah were popular in Florence as subjects appropriate to newlywed contexts, where the theme of a woman's virtue preserved against male aggression offered reassuring or cautionary messages. Pesellino's version would have presented the narrative in sequential episodes within a single panel.
Technical Analysis
Sequential narrative on a cassone panel required Pesellino to indicate different temporal moments within a unified space—typically through landscape divisions or architectural settings that mark the transition from bath scene to accusation to the providential intervention. His figure drawing and spatial organisation are adapted to the horizontal format of the chest panel.
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