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Primary sourcePainting1610

Susanna and the Elders

Artemisia Gentileschi · 1610

Gentileschi's earliest surviving signed painting, made at seventeen, shows a young woman harassed by two older men while bathing.

Gentileschi's earliest signed work, painted at seventeen, a year before her own assault by Agostino Tassi.

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Painting of a nude woman with long curly hair sitting on a stone ledge, covering her body with her arms and raising one hand. Two men lean over the ledge behind her; the older man wears a red cloak and the other wears a brown cloak. The sky is cloudy.
Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, 1610. Schloss Weißenstein, Pommersfelden.

About this source

What it is

Painted in 1610 when Artemisia Gentileschi was seventeen, this is her earliest known signed and dated work. It depicts the biblical story of Susanna, bathing in her garden, confronted by two elders who demand sexual favors and later falsely accuse her of adultery. The painting hangs at Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden, Germany.

Why it matters

Painted a year before Gentileschi was raped by Agostino Tassi, this work is notable for showing Susanna's visible distress and discomfort, unlike many contemporary versions by male artists that downplay her fear. Scholars have debated how much guidance Gentileschi received from her artist father Orazio, since depicting a convincing female nude at such a young age was unusual for the time.

Look closer

  • How does Susanna's body language differ from other paintings of the same subject?
  • Why might the artist's gender change how this scene is shown?
  • What does the composition, with the men looming above, suggest about power in the scene?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Artemisia Gentileschi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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