Susanna at Her Bath

Francesco Hayez painted Susanna at Her Bath around 1850, depicting the apocryphal Old Testament narrative of the virtuous Susanna who was wrongly accused of adultery by two lustful elders who had secretly watched her bathing. The subject was one of the most frequently painted in the entire Western tradition — the legitimate display of the nude female body in a voyeuristic narrative context — and Hayez's late treatment demonstrates his sustained mastery of the sensuous figure painting that was his most consistently accomplished contribution to Italian Romantic art. The work belongs to the tradition of Venetian colorism that Hayez absorbed and developed throughout his long career.

Hayez renders the figure of Susanna with luminous, warm flesh tones against a rich landscape setting. The Venetian-influenced palette and the careful handling of light on the nude form demonstrate his lifelong commitment to the sensuous tradition of Titian and Giorgione.