Susanna bathing.

This 1839 Susanna Bathing at the Louvre is another treatment of the Old Testament subject that Chassériau had first explored in 1837, demonstrating his tendency to revisit key themes across multiple works. The 1839 version, exhibited at the Salon, shows his developing confidence in treating the female nude within a narrative framework that legitimized the erotic content through moral context. The two Elders who spy on Susanna from behind the garden wall represent both the threat to female integrity and the corruption of judicial authority that the story exposes. Chassériau's two Susanna treatments, two years apart, document his evolving approach to the subject at a formative moment in his development.

The bathing figure is rendered with refined classical drawing and warm, sensuous flesh tones, Chassériau's treatment balancing the vulnerability of the subject with the aesthetic pleasure of the beautifully rendered nude form.