Name of Object:

Susanna and the Old Men

Location:

Rome, Latium, Italy

Holding Museum:

Borghese Gallery

 About Borghese Gallery, Rome

Original Owner:

Cardinal Scipione Borghese (?)

Current Owner:

Italian State

Date of Object:

1607

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Peter Paul Rubens (1577, Siegen-1640, Antwerp)

Museum Inventory Number:

277

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

h: 94 cm; w: 65 cm

Provenance:

Scipione Borghese Collection

Type of object:

Painting

Place of production:

Rome

Description:

According to historical sources, Rubens was one of the artists patronised by Scipione Borghese, who was a great admirer. This painting was probably done expressly for Cardinal Borghese, given that in 1622 it was fitted with a frame, now unfortunately lost. The commission, which lacks documentary support, could be understood to be a sign of recognition for the assistance that Borghese gave to the painter, who was already committed to Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, in asking him to consent to a longer stay in Rome.
The painting relates to Rubens' second stay in Rome (1606–1608), when he was working on the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella – where Caravaggio had worked – in which he was decorating the high altar.
The work depicts the story of Susanna as told in the Old Testament (Daniel 13, 1–64). This is a biblical theme that is particularly dear to the culture of the Counter Reformation, which saw in the heroine an example of truth and virtue as against lying, symbolised here by two old men who are trying in vain to seduce the maiden. To render the protagonist, Rubens, a passionate devotee of ancient art, drew on the famous bronze sculpture Spinario on the Capitoline Hill. It is an extremely harmonious figure in which the classical combines perfectly with the voluptuous and abundant forms, typical of the artist. There are also references to the great Venetians of the 16th century, especially Titian in his later style, Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto. These are evident in the use of a particular colour palette based on browns and golds, entirely different from the choices made by contemporary Caravaggesque painters, who focused on strong contrasts between light and shadow.

Rubens probably executed this work during his second stay in Rome (1606–1608). The pose of the central female nude shows knowledge of antique art (the Spinario) and appears from the darkness with the contrasting light of Caravaggio's tenebrism.

How Object was obtained:

Acquired by the Italian State in 1902.

Selected bibliography:

Della Pergola, P., Galleria Borghese. I Dipinti, II, Rome, 1959, n.273, pp. 183–184.
Bodart, D., in Pietro Paolo Rubens, exhibition catalogue (Padua), Rome, 1990, pp. 88–89, cat.25.
Laureati, L. – Brown, B. L., in Caravaggio e il genio di Roma, 1592–1623, exhibition catalogue, 2001, Milan, p. 289, cat.107.
Vlieghe, B., Rubens, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2004, p. 34, cat.7.
Jaffè, D., Rubens a Master in the Making, exhibition catalogue edited by D. Jaffè and E. M. Moore-Ede, London, 2005, p. 79, cat.19.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright image: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.

Citation of this web page:

Sofia Barchiesi "Susanna and the Old Men" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;it;Mus11;36;en

Prepared by: Sofia BarchiesiSofia Barchiesi

SURNAME: Barchiesi
NAME: Sofia

TITLE: Author and Researcher

CV:
Sofia Barchiesi, a graduate and specialist in Art History and recipient of a scholarship from the School of Mediaeval and Modern Art History at Lumsa University, has been working with the Superintendency for Historical Artistic Heritage and the Museums of Rome since the late 1980s. She was responsible for cataloguing the art of the region and museums of Rome, studying the period of the Counter-Reformation particularly closely. She works with journals and writes essays, alternating her research and teaching work.
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: IT1 50